


Triple Threat

by Vespers_Reign



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, F/F, Foursome - F/F/F/F, Polyamory, Slow Build Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan, Storybrooke, Threesome - F/F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2019-07-29 13:02:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 42
Words: 55,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16264751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vespers_Reign/pseuds/Vespers_Reign
Summary: Jane Rizzoli, Maura Isles and Emma Swan live together in a polyamorous relationship, and have done for a number of years.What happens when Emma's long adopted son turns up at their house to take Emma to Storybrooke? What happens when Emma meets Henry's gorgeous yet feisty adoptive mother?Will Emma stay in Storybrooke for Henry and leave Boston and her girlfriends behind? How will Regina cope with not one, but potentially three new people to Storybrooke? Will the curse remain intact?Stay tuned to find out!Updated Fridays.(I don't own Rizzoli and Isles, or Once Upon a Time, just this story)





	1. Happy Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, and welcome to my new story.
> 
> I don't think I've seen a relationship crossover between Rizzles and SwanQueen, other than the odd Jane/Emma pairing, and wanted to play out their relationship. It will be slow burn to get to the SwanQueen stage but Rizzles (plus Emma) is well established. 
> 
> Please sit back and enjoy, I update every Friday.
> 
> Happy reading, 
> 
> Vespers_Reign.

“Goodbye babe, happy birthday,” Jane Rizzoli kissed her girlfriend lightly on the lips as she held the door open for her other girlfriend to follow her.

“Goodbye darling, we’ll be home later tonight to take you out to dinner. I love you,” Maura Isles also kissed their girlfriend on the lips before following Jane to the door. 

“I love you ladies too. Have a good day, loves,” Emma Swan smiled, waving goodbye to her girlfriends going in to work. She watched as they walked down the driveway to Jane’s car, Jane holding the door open for Maura like the gentlewoman she was before going around and getting into the drivers seat. 

Emma went inside the large house she lived in with her girlfriends, after said girlfriends waved goodbye from in the car as Jane drove away, heading into the Boston Police Department headquarters where they both worked. 

Still dressed in her silk robe Maura had gifted the three of them for Christmas, all matching, yellow for Emma, black for Jane and light purple for herself, Emma sat down at the breakfast bar opening her laptop as she did so. 

Due to her work as a bail bonds person, Emma had multiple profiles on dating websites she used to hunt her bond jumpers. Jane struggled slightly with that aspect of Emma’s work but Emma still had the respect and trust from her occasionally jealous girlfriend. 

Opening up one website she used to see if her target, Bryan, had answered, Emma sipped her coffee Maura made as she waited for the page to load. 

In the time it took the web page to open, Emma’s mother-in-law, Angela Rizzoli, who lived in the guest house of the house owned by Maura in which they all lived, came into the kitchen, looking for Jane before she herself left for work. 

“Good morning Angela,” Emma greeted her from the island bench. 

“Good morning sweetie. How many times have I told you to call me ‘Mom’?” Angela came over and side hugged her daughter-in-law. 

Whilst it didn’t take Angela much time at all to come to terms with her daughters sexuality, it took her a while to come to terms with her daughters polyamorous relationship she’d shared with the two blondes for the past three years. Now though, Angela loved both of Jane’s girlfriends as her own daughters. 

“I will get there one day Angela but you know I struggle with that word. I do love you as a mother though.”

Having been orphaned from only hours old and being bounced around from crappy foster home to crappy foster home, Emma had never felt comfortable calling anyone ‘Mom’, but if there was one person who did deserve that title, it was Angela Rizzoli. 

“I know honey, we’ll get there. Happy birthday though, what are your plans for the day?”

“I’m trying to get a jumper who skipped out on his wife who put up $25,000 for his bail. I bag him, I’ll get my cut of the other $25,000 my company put up.” 

Frowning, Angela replied, “You three have jobs that are too dangerous, I always worry for you all.”

Pulling Angela into a hug, Emma tried to assuage her guilt for worrying her mother-in-law. 

Their hug was distracted though when Emma’s laptop chimed announcing a message from her mark. 

Groaning, Emma accepted the dinner invitation her mark had extended for tonight. Hopefully she could get straight into the restaurant, arrest him and get out again, to her birthday dinner with the loves of her life. 

“I’ll leave you to work, I’ll see you later Ems, happy birthday again,” Angela kisses her goodbye, returning to her guest house with a fresh cup of coffee in hand. 

Ringing Maura, Emma asked her to put it on speaker phone so she could inform the two women at once about the slight change of plans for the night. 

“It’s okay babe, we’ll go out once you get back if you like,” Jane replied, pulling into Maura’s designated car space right near the entrance to the building (there were perks to dating the Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts). 

Hanging up the phone, Emma got organised for her work for the evening.


	2. Lunch Discussion

“Hello, Sargent Korsak,” Maura greeted Jane’s Sargent who was sat at his desk opposite Jane’s. 

“Hi Doc. Come to take your girl to lunch?” He asked. 

Smiling, Maura replied, “One of them.”

Smiling a non-verbal reply, Korsak went back to his work. 

Korsak didn’t have an issue with his best detective being gay, nor the fact her partner worked with her. He did however, take a while to accept their polyamorous relationship with another female. But, he thought, Jane is happy, and that’s all he could want for his pseudo daughter. 

Turning her attentions to Jane, Maura saw her girlfriend looking intensely at her with unmistakable love. 

“Hi,” Jane whispered in greeting. 

“Hi yourself,” Maura returned, “ready for lunch?” 

“You bet. Korsak, I’ll be back later,” Jane informed the older detective. 

Together, the two women walked through to the elevator Maura had just got off. It was not until the doors closed with Jane and Maura as it’s only occupants, did the former take the latter’s hand in her own. It was well know by her girlfriends that Jane was not all that comfortable with public displays of affection, unless she instigated it. 

This was as close to contact Jane would permit at work, and only because they were alone in the elevator. 

Heading down to the cafe on the bottom floor, Jane and Maura ordered their meals from Angela, who’d worked at the Division One Cafe for a number of years. 

Bringing out three meals, Angela sat with the ladies to eat her lunch as well. It was one of the perks of her job, keeping an eye on most of her children. 

“So Emma is going out tonight to catch a jumper I hear?” Angela commented to the table when she sat down, attempting to illicit a response from her daughter who was not the biggest fan of her yellow blonde girlfriends job, despite her own. 

“She rang and told us,” was all Jane said. 

“I don’t get why you, of all people, Jane, have a problem with Emma’s job,” Angela said. 

Keeping calm, knowing her mother was baiting her, Jane answered as she picked at the hot fries that were next to her club sandwich, “Because when I go out on the street to catch bad guys, I have Frost and Korsak right there with me, and the rest of BPD at my fingertips. Emma has no one for backup. It’s not that I don’t trust Emma, I don’t trust the creeps she collects.” 

Trying to sooth her hot tempered detective, Maura input, “What Jane means is that she worries about Emma, just as you do all of us, Angela.”

“Okay, I get it.” Angela let the conversation lie. “What are you two doing for her birthday then?” 

“We’ll see what time Ems gets home from her sting and take her out to dinner if she’s not too late. We’ll give her her gift whatever time she gets home though.” Jane answered. 

“What did you get her?” Angela asked, excitedly. 

Sparing a glance at a blushing Jane, Maura informed Angela of the official gift they were giving to their girlfriend, “Jane and I bought her a matching necklace and earring set for when we have to attend formal functions.” 

“Yeah, she’ll love it Ma, we got yellow diamonds for her, yellow is her favourite colour after all.” Jane added. 

Laughing, Angela said, “I know.”

Before the conversation could continue, both Jane and Maura’s cell phones rang simultaneously. 

“Rizzoli.”

“Isles.”

Angela cleared the left over fries into a takeaway box for the women, knowing they would be called away to a death scene. 

“Thanks Ma,” Jane said as she hung up her phone, kissing her mother on her cheek as she took the container out of her hands. 

As Jane and Maura were walking out of the cafe, Emma walked in the front door of BPD headquarters. 

Spotting her, Jane walked over and apologised for their not being able to stop and chat, “Maura and I just got a case baby, I’m so sorry but we have to run. Ma’s in the cafe if you want lunch.”

“Yeah, no worries then, be safe. I love you two,” Emma said, briefly hugging the pair, making Jane cringe purposely, before going into the cafe for her own lunch with Angela.


	3. A Fake Date

That evening, Emma got dressed for her ‘work date’ as Maura called them, by herself, blaring her music as she did so, not a care in the world. 

Slipping into a hot pink dress and black stilettos, Emma placed into her clutch a pair of zip tie handcuffs and a small canister of pepper spray. 

Underneath the pink dress, Emma had a concealable inner thigh holster for a Glock 43, a present from Jane last Christmas, which she carried with her tonight. 

It took a fair amount of skill to be able to conceal the weapon, and to be able to walk gracefully with a gun between your thighs. 

Picking up the car keys to her beloved yellow Volkswagen Beetle that had seen better days, Emma climbed inside and drove to her office. 

Although Emma was technically a freelancer bounty hunter, most of the time, she did have use of a work truck that belongs to the company she was contracted to for this hunt. 

Arriving to the office, Emma checked in with Amanda, the administration lady, to inform her of the arrangement that evening, and that she would be taking F150 pickup truck. 

Whilst it was a bitch to drive in the city, it provided Emma with a bit of safety whilst transporting her marks. The front and rear seats were separated by a plexiglass cage so that the marks were unable to attack the driver whilst on their way to the police station for booking in. 

Collecting the keys to the truck, Emma left the office and walked to the basement car park, finding the black nondescript vehicle in its allocated spot. 

Checking the metal lock box in the tub of the truck, Emma confirmed there was a yellow wheel clamp so she would be able to disable her marks car before going into the restaurant. 

Making her was through the city traffic was, as she predicted, a nightmare. 

Emma was in luck though, when she got to the front of the restaurant, finding a car park right behind her marks car. She had done her research and found out the make, model and registration plate of this guys car before leaving the office. 

Checking the mark was not in the silver sedan, Emma quickly clamped his rear tyre, without getting any dirt on her dress. 

She quickly rinsed off her hands with hand sanitiser before heading inside the restaurant. She’d decided not to carry in the clutch but rather strapped the white plastic zip cuff underneath her thigh holster under her dress so she could have her hands free for the evening. 

Emma gave her marks name to the maître D at the front desk and was pointed in the direction of his table. Emma confirmed by mugshot mentally, that the guy she was supposed to be on a date with was in fact wanted for jumping bail. 

The start of the ‘date’ went off without a hitch, Emma chatting a bit about herself, revealing herself to have no family that matters. 

Even though she had her girlfriends, she would never reveal this to her marks, especially ones she was meant to be ‘dating’. 

As predicted, Bryan ran out of the restaurant and to his car as soon as he figured out Emma was a bail bonds person. 

His car though, would not move, due to Emma having clamped it less than half an hour earlier. 

When he made a snide comment about Emma having no family, in a fit of rage, Emma slammed his head into the steering wheel of his sedan, rendering him unconscious, slumped against the wheel. 

Manoeuvring Bryan’s hands to behind his back, Emma zip cuffed his hands together and dragged him out of the sedan and half carried half dragged him over into the truck. 

Slamming the back door shut after ensuring kiddy lock was enabled on the door, Emma climbed in the drivers seat and started driving towards the BPD headquarters, underneath which were holding cells on the other end of the building to the morgue where her honey blonde girlfriend worked. 

Emma thought about her girls as she drove to their work place, wondering when she would have them back, active cases did take all of their time after all. 

Halfway through the drive though, Bryan regained consciousness and started swearing and kicking the plexiglass as best he could with his hands behind his back. 

This was why Emma always took a work truck to pick up bail jumpers. The cut of $25,000 that she would be earning for catching Bryan was not worth taking a kick to the head or body for, experience taught her that. 

She ignored him as she pulled into the watch house bay announcing her prisoner as she exited the vehicle. 

Emma signed him across to the Boston Police Department as she quickly filled in her paperwork she needed to claim her earnings. 

Once that was done and her truck removed from the watch house bay, Emma re-entered the building, this time making her way to the Homicide bullpen, hoping that Jane or Maura would be in either of their offices. 

When she saw the bull pen was empty of any Detectives, Emma made her way back down stairs to the morgue, to see if there was anyone in there. 

Although this area was not devoid of people, neither of her girlfriends were there. 

Emma spoke to Maura’s assistant, Susie Chang, who informed the blonde that Dr Isles and Detective Rizzoli were still at the crime scene and that she didn’t know how much longer they would be there for. 

Emma knew from previous cases that just because the ladies were done at their crime scene, that did not mean they were done for the night. 

They would have to return to the office, write their reports, lodge any evidence they’d seized and so forth. Maura would have to get everything planned and organised for the autopsy to be completed first thing in the morning and Jane would have to collate all the information they had so they could pick up right where they left off when they eventually would make it home for a few hours sleep before returning. 

Emma thanked Susie and left the building.

Although, Emma was used to her girlfriends work schedules being hectic when there was an active case, it still put a bit of a dampener on her birthday night. 

Stopping at a late night bakery on her way back to returning the truck from the office, Emma picked up a small cupcake to eat when she got home as a lonely birthday cake. 

Lodging her paperwork with Amanda before going home, Emma left with her cupcake in hand and returned to Maura’s house in Beacon Hill. 

Getting inside and kicking her shoes off, Emma went into the kitchen and plated the cupcake. Looking around the kitchen, Emma could only find one candle, a blue star, that was obviously left over from Jane’s nephew, TJ’s, birthday party last month. 

Emma lit the candle, blowing it out with a wish of not being on her own for her birthday, wishing that Jane and Maura would be home quickly.

Even though it was only eight o’clock in the evening, Emma knew the ladies would be cutting it fine to get back home by midnight.

The blonde was startled out of her reverie by the sound of Maura’s doorbell ringing. 

Thinking it might be Frankie, or Tommy with TJ, Emma opened the door but couldn’t see anyone in front of her face. 

She was startled to see a young boy with a mop of neat brown hair wearing an overcoat and a red and green scarf around his neck standing at her front door.

“Can I help you?” she asked him. 

“Are you Emma Swan?” his little voice confidently asked. 

“Yeah, who are you?” was her instant reply. 

“My name is Henry. I’m your son.”


	4. A Suspicious Death

“So what do you think, Maura? Suicide or homicide?” Jane asked the doctors opinion on the scene they were currently standing in. 

“I won’t be able to confirm until I get back to the lab but I believe we will be investigating a homicide. Look at the ink smudges on the deceased’s left hand, that tells me she was left handed. Now, look at the entry wound of the single gun shot.”

“It’s on the right hand side,” Jane answered, “meaning someone staged this scene to look like a suicide.”

“That is what the evidence indicates.”

The pair had been called to the death of a female, early twenties, who’d sustained a single gunshot wound to her right temple. The body was found in the Social Law Library in Pemberton Square, hunched over what looked to be university assignments. 

Having indicated this death was suspicious, Maura began collecting the evidence she would need to continue her side of the investigation. 

Whilst Maura collected her evidence, so did Jane and Frost. Frost spoke to witnesses and the informant whilst Jane went around with the crime scene technicians collecting vital clues and evidence. Korsak has also attended the scene, and was overseeing the operation whilst keeping the press at bay. 

After Maura’s morgue attendants had collected and removed the body, the detectives were able to get their first glimpse of the paper the victim was working on prior to her death. 

The first thing they noticed was the ink smudges on the paper correlated with the ink smudges on the victims left hand. A problem Jane knew only too well. 

Peering past the smudged ink, they would read the paper was an assignment on string theory. Obviously the victim was fairly intelligent to be writing a paper specifically on string theory. 

Bagging the blood spattered assignment and possessions of the victim, the crime scene techs took them back to lodge them in evidence. 

Jane’s attention was now drawn to the gun itself. It had not yet been cleared and rendered safe by first responders to allow the homicide detectives to view the scene untampered. 

After it had been photographed in situ, Jane, who’d already donned a pair of gloves upon arrival at the scene stepped up to the pistol with Frost at her side, feeling less sick now the corpse had been removed. 

The pistol was a Baretta APX Compact. Jane picked up the pistol and racked the slide back to clear the chamber. The magazine spring locked the slide in place indicating there had only been one round in the chamber and no follow up rounds in the magazine when it was shot, seeing as the chamber too was clear of any further rounds. 

‘Interesting’ thought Jane, clearly, this was a planned attack carried out with meticulous care. 

The immediate area surrounding the chair and desk had evidence of brain matter, indicating the death happened here. There was muzzle burn against the victims right temple showed the gun muzzle was touching her skin at the time the trigger had been pulled. 

The question Jane’s team now had to answer was, why would this girl be murdered in a library in the early afternoon. And why did nobody hear the gun go off. 

Maura and Jane remained at the crime scene until just past 8:00pm. The ride to BPD headquarters took longer than normal at that time of night, especially when you factor in the coffee stop Jane insisted on. 

When they walked into the morgue together to formally lodge the victims body, Susie mentioned Emma’s visit an hour earlier to them. Although sad to miss any opportunity to see their girlfriend, both understood it was all part of their jobs. 

Maura worked diligently in the lab for nearly an hour before wandering upstairs to wait for Jane to go home, having finished what she could do in the morgue that night. 

Walking into the bull pen, Maura’s phone stared ringing. She pulled it out of her handbag and smiled as Emma’s caller ID photo flashed on the screen. 

Sitting down next to Jane, Maura answered the phone holding it between her and Jane so the detective could hear the conversation too.

“Hi Ems,” Maura greeted her blonde girlfriend.

“Hey Maur, is Jane there with you?”

“Yeah, I’m here babe, what’s up?” Jane asked, “How did your arrest go?”  
“It went fine, got the bad guy, came to see you two, you were at your scene though. I’m ringing to tell you I’m going to be out of town tonight.”  
“What?!” Maura interjected.

“I - do you two remember when I told you about my having to give a child up whilst I was in prison?”

“Yeah,” Jane replied softly, “what about it?”  
“Well ‘it’ is a he, and he found me at home. I’m driving him back home to his mother but that’s in Maine, in a town I’ve never heard of before. Have either of you heard of Storybrooke? It’s about four hours away?”

“Um, no, is that even a real place?” Jane asked. 

“Apparently it is, the kid, Henry, lives there. I’m gunna drop him off then come home.”“Emma, if you are tired, you should stay in this Storybrooke place for the night, I don’t want you driving tired, it’s almost as bad as driving drunk, or drugged,” Maura chastised. 

“Okay, I promise, if I get tired, I’ll stay there for the night. I’m gunna go, the kid’s waking up.”

“Alright babe, you drive safely okay, and if you want, Maura and I will come and drive you home.”

“Thanks darlings, I’ll call you later. I love you both.”

As Maura hung up the phone after saying her goodbye, she looked at Jane apprehensively, “What do you think this boy, this Henry, wants from Emma?”

“I dunno, to meet his birth mother I suppose. We just need to be here to support her, it won’t be easy knowing where the boys is, especially after having to make the decision to give him up in the first place.”

Maura, like normal, agreed with what Jane had said.

Together, they made their way to their now empty house to await the return of their girlfriend.


	5. An Interesting Boy

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes with the back of his hand, Henry asked Emma, “Who were you speaking to?”

“Um-” Emma didn’t quite know how to explain her relationship to the young boy, especially as she didn’t know what his understanding was of homosexual relationships, let alone polyamorous ones.

“It’s not a hard question Emma,” the smart and precocious boy stated.

Alright, straight out with it it would be then, “I was talking to my girlfriends.”

“Girlfriends?”

“Yes, I have two, we have been together for three years now,” Emma watched the child she gave up at birth ponder her words.

“Why do you have two?” 

“Ah,” Emma stalled for time thinking how best to answer, “Jane and Maura, my girlfriends, they were together for a year before we met. Over the following few months, the three of us got really close. After knowing each other for over six months, they asked me if I would be open to being in a relationship with them. We’ve been together ever since.”

“Okay.”

Emma could have laughed at how easy Henry accepted what she’d said, most adults take a lot more time to be as accepting.

“Have you been in a relationship like that before?” Henry asked after a few moments of silence, “I’ve never met anyone in a three person relationship before.”

“No, and neither had I. Love is love, it doesn’t matter who you love, so long as they treat you right,” Emma stated.

“That makes sense,” Henry replied.

Whilst Emma drove, Henry pulled out his story book and started pouring over it. 

“What’s that?” Emma asked, glancing across at the book.

Without missing a beat, Henry told Emma she wasn’t ready to know what his history book of fairy tales were. 

It didn’t take much coaxing though for Henry to start telling his birth mother a little bit about the book, revealing she herself features inside.

Disbelieving, Emma kept driving on towards this mysterious town, letting Henry continue reading before falling asleep again. 

After a few hours, Henry woke up again and asked, “How much further?”

“I dunno kid, I’m following your directions, or I was until you fell asleep. We can’t be too far away though,” Emma hoped.

“This looks familiar,” Henry spoke up about half an hour later, “I think around this bend you’ll see the towns ‘welcome’ sign.”

Emma looked curiously over at the boy, “You think? Have you never left your town before?”

“Nope,” he answered simply.

“And you thought your first foray into the wide world would be to Boston?!” Emma cried, worried instantly for the safety of the son she’s never known. 

“Hey, I’m a smart kid, I didn’t get lost, I found you,” Henry returned in a cranky voice, emphasising the ‘you’. 

“Henry, yes, you found me, but I could have been a deranged serial killer for all you know, that wasn’t safe,” Emma implored the child to see reason. 

“But you’re not a serial killer,” Henry replied sullenly, turning to look out the window as the rain fell around the car making its way into the town he called home. 

Still cranky at being chastised by the Saviour, when asked for an address, Henry replied “44 Not-Telling-You Street.”

Frustrated at the child’s behaviour, Emma slammed on the breaks to the yellow bug and leapt from the vehicle for some fresh air, throwing the door closed as a power breaker on the power lines above her exploded.

Henry followed his frustrated birth mother out of the car, and listened to her imploring him to give her information about where he lives. 

Instead, they entered into another conversation about his story book, up until Doctor Archie Hopper and Pongo arrived on scene to make the situation even more awkward. 

Watching Henry interact with the Doctor, Emma came to the realisation the child was in therapy, and discussed it with him, sarcasm escaping when she was informed the Doctor was Jiminy Cricket. 

Finally, Henry was helping give Emma directions to Mifflin Street, after Doctor Hopper gave away his address on him. 

When Henry finally pointed out his house, Emma had to agree with Doctor Hopper, it was the largest house on Mifflin Street, it was even bigger than Maura’s house back in Boston. 

As Emma climbed out of the bug and walked with Henry through the gate and up the garden path between neatly trimmed hedges, Henry began begging Emma to take him with her, saying how his only parent, his adoptive mother, doesn’t love him, only pretends to. 

Considering Emma gave her baby up for their best chance, it broke her heart to hear, and so she tried comforting the boy, telling him she was sure his mother loved him. 

As Emma was bent over talking to the boy she gave up, the woman who gave him a home burst out the front door of the white mansion, calling her son and running towards him. 

Stepping back, all Emma could think of was how beautiful the brunette woman was, despite the tears tracking down her cheeks. 

’Oh I’m in trouble here,’ Emma thought as she watched the woman hug the boy tightly.


	6. Secrets Confessed

Having retired the night before with no word from Emma, the first thing Jane and Maura did when their alarm clock went off at 7am the next morning, was check their phones for any messages that may have come through the night. 

Both were disappointed when each of their phones had no correspondence from their blonde girlfriend. 

“I hope she made it all right,” Maura mumbled into Janes shoulder as she rolled back into bed for the eight minutes of snooze her alarm had been reset for. 

Curling her long slender arms around the smaller woman, Jane replied, I’m sure she will be fine darling, Emma’s a smart girl, if she got tired, she would have stopped driving.”

Maura murmured her agreement before closing her eyes again for a short time. 

When the alarm obnoxiously sounded for a second time, both women climbed out of bed and into the shower, showering together, to save water of course. 

Descending the stairs, Maura and Jane’s senses were pleasantly assaulted with the delicious smell of bacon frying in the kitchen, being cooked by Angela who loved cooking for her girls when she was home in the morning. 

“Hey Ma,” Jane greeted her. 

“Good morning girls, where’s Emma? How was the rest of her birthday? Is she still sleeping from a big night?” Angela smirked, rattling off a million questions at once. 

“Ma, too many questions, too early,” Jane grumped, upset her girlfriend in question wasn’t even in the same state at the moment.

Looking slightly apologetic, Angela turned back to cooking the eggs she’d added to the pan. 

“Don’t mind Jane, Angela, she doesn’t like it when Emma goes away,” Maura addressed the brunettes snappy response to her mothers questions.

“Away? Where’s Emma? She was here yesterday!” Angela cried, pulling the bacon from the pan and letting it sit on paper towel prepared on a spare plate. 

“Ma, what I’m about to tell you cannot be repeated, okay? You absolutely cannot tell anyone about this if I’m going to tell you,” Jane said seriously to her mother. 

“Of course, Jane, I won’t say anything. Emma isn’t in trouble is she?” Angela asked, suddenly worried for the younger blonde woman. 

“No, Angela, she isn’t in trouble, she’s just dealing with a deeply personal matter,” Maura added. 

“Okay?”

“Ma, when Emma was eighteen, you know she was sent to prison?” Jane confirmed the deep secret that took Emma two years to confess to Angela.

“Yeah, she doesn’t like to speak about it,” Angela answered, confused. 

“No, she doesn’t,” Jane continued, “when Emma went into prison, she didn’t know it, but she was pregnant. Emma gave birth to a baby whilst she was inside.”

Pulling the pan off the stove, Angela staggered to a chair on the other side of the island bench, collapsing down onto it, shocked at the information. 

Jane continued as Maura took over the remainder of the cooking duties from Angela, “Emma gave the baby up to give it its best chance. She never held the baby and didn’t know what she had. Last night, a ten year old boy knocked on the door and proclaimed Emma to be his birth mother. Emma has driven him home in Maine, we don’t know when she will be coming home. She was going to drive back but I guess she was too tired to continue driving.”

Placing a plate of food in front of the Rizzoli matriarch, Maura put a reassuring hand on the older woman’s shoulder, asking, “Are you okay Angela?”

Taking a moment, Angela soon replied, “I guess, I hope Emma is okay, I feel bad she didn’t feel she could share this with me.”

“She doesn’t like talking about it Ma, it was the hardest thing she ever had to do, but she knew it was the right choice. When Emma was in prison, she had no one, she didn’t have a house, she didn’t have a family, she had no way to support herself, let alone a child. Emma took a long time to share that with us, Ma, make sure you don’t go saying anything to anyone, especially not the boys,” Jane referred to her brothers, two of the worst gossips she knew, after Angela herself. 

“I won’t, I swear. Poor Emma,” Angela moped, eating the food from her plate as her daughters did the same, Jane sneaking a piece of Maura’s bacon as per usual. 

Once breakfast, and the heavy conversation, was over, Jane and Maura bid Angela goodbye, leaving for their offices. 

They had both to follow up on their murder from the night before. 

Maura’s day would be filled by completing the autopsy and analysing the seized forensic evidence from the scene. 

Jane’s day would be occupied by interviewing those close to the victim and studying the victims background and movements in the hours and days before the murder. 

Doing what they do best, the two women got to work on solving the murder.


	7. The Interrogation

Brown eyes sized Emma up before speaking, stunned, “You’re Henry’s brith mother?”

With her brain taking it’s time to catch up, Emma’s only response was a timid “Hi.”

From behind the two women, a man, clearly the Sheriff of this little town, awkwardly left the pair alone, stating he was going to check on the boy who’d run inside moments before, proclaiming to have found his ‘real’ mom.

Turning her attention back to the breathtaking woman in front of her, Emma caught the Mayors eyes travelling the length of her body before their owner clearly reset herself before offering Emma a drink, and walking her inside. 

Emma followed the woman in the grey dress inside the house, learning her name was Regina. Emma’s first thought walking through the well decorated house was this woman clearly opulent, more so than her girlfriend, who was the wealthiest person Emma had ever met. 

As this woman, this Regina, poured Emma a drink, they briefly discussed the fact Emma had asked for no contact when adopting out Henry, confirming also that the Mayor needn’t be worried of a father coming onto the scene. 

Regina was about to lead Emma through the house to one of the sitting rooms when the Sheriff announced his presence, informing them Henry was fine, though tired.

Dismissing the Sheriff from the house, Regina continued the conversation with Emma in the sitting room, seemingly defending her position as Henry’s mother whilst somewhat interrogating Emma. 

It was only when Emma mentioned Henry’s book did the woman in front of her seem to falter. When Emma explained about the book, and Henry’s perception of the book, the Mayor insisted she did not know what Emma was talking about. It was then Emma realised the kid must not have spoken to his mom about his ideas. 

Deciding to end the conversation, Emma said, “You know what, it’s none of my business, he’s your kid, and I really should be heading back, my girlfriend’s are waiting for me.”

Against her better judgement, Regina couldn’t help but find herself intrigued by her son’s birthmother,“Girlfriends?”

“Ah, yeah, Jane and Maura. I live with them, they’re expecting me home sometime tonight, or tomorrow morning rather,” Emma quickly divulged, looking at her hands once she finished speaking instead of the slightly intimidating brunette in front of her.

Given the raised eyebrow Regina was currently sporting, Emma realised the woman was probably not as open minded as some people, and decided to ask, “Do you have a problem with that, Madam Mayor? Because Henry doesn’t.” Emma didn’t know why she felt the need to add the last the last three words, but felt they were important none the less.

Ignoring the question posed to her in favour of addressing her son’s knowledge, Regina confirmed, “Henry knows about your lifestyle choices?”

“Yes,” Emma quickly added, explaining further, “I was speaking to Jane and Maura telling them I was coming out to Storybrooke so they wouldn’t worry when they got home to an empty house, Henry heard me speaking to them and asked who I was speaking to. I didn’t want to lie the kid and so told him about the girls. He seemed cool with it.”

“Of course he is ‘cool with it’, he’s ten. Everything that hasn’t got to do with me is ‘cool’. And no, to answer your question, I don’t have a problem with what you choose to do in the privacy of your own home but I do wish you would have spoken to me about it before telling my son,” Regina defended, not wanting to woman sitting across from her to know just how okay she was with her choice of relationship. Regina herself knew of the benefit of multiple partners in a relationship, and knew that, for some people, it worked really well.

“Well that was a bit hard when I’ve never met you, and the kid was asking me questions three hours away. As I said, I’m not gunna lie to him,” Emma proclaimed. 

Regina gave Emma a withering stare before standing up and offering to take Emma’s empty glass. 

Sensing when she was being dismissed, Emma stood up and gave the Mayor the glass before walking out of the room and to the front of the house. 

Quickly saying goodbye as the front door was opened for her, Emma left the Mayor standing in her entrance hall as she made her way back down the garden path. Emma used all of her available will power to not turn around for one last glance at the Mayor before leaving. Yes, the Mayor seemed uptight and defensive, but she’d just got her son back after he’d been missing for who know’s how many hours. Despite the Mayors attitude, Emma could appreciate a beautiful figure in front of her, even if that beautiful figure hard a sharp tongue to go with it. 

As Emma got to the gate, she thought she heard a noise from the top level of the house. She looked back and saw Henry’s distinctive silhouette in the window of the second room in from the side of the house. As soon as Henry realised Emma was watching him, he turned around and left the window. 

Feeling somewhat deflated, Emma climbed into her yellow bug and pulled out her phone. She sent a quick text to Jane and Maura informing them she was on her way back, and drove away, following the route she came into town out of it. It was only when she was gaining on the ‘Welcome to Storybrooke’ sign did Emma look on her front passenger seat. 

It was then she saw Henry left his story book in her car. Smiling to herself, Emma commentated, “Sneaky bastard” before looking back to the road, in time to see a grey wolf in the middle of her path. 

Swerving so as not to hit the large creature, Emma over shot the swerve in the wet conditions and crashed into the large ‘Welcome to Storybrooke’ sign, knocking herself unconscious in the process.

What seemed a few hours later, Emma was awoken by a whistling sound permeating her brain. 

Cracking her green eyes open, Emma looked across the space in front of her and noted two things. 

One, a grumpy, short, older man was responsible for the whistling, and two, she was locked in a jail cell. 

‘Oh, Jane is going to love this,’ Emma thought, making a mental note to call her girlfriends as soon as possible, as she tried to remember how she got there.


	8. Morning for Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delayed chapter, I was away for work for a week and there was no internet, boo!
> 
> Please check you've read last weeks chapter as I don't know if everyone got the notification with some email servers not picking up AO3 emails, I know I was missing a lot of notifications.
> 
> Anyways, happy reading :)

Prior to Emma’s emergency trip to Maine, Jane and Maura had organised weeks ago to have the Saturday after Emma’s birthday off to spend the day with her. 

Despite Emma not actually being there, Jane and Maura still had the day off regardless. 

That is why 8:00am found the pair asleep in bed when the ringing of the detectives phone woke them up. 

“You’re not on call,” Maura grumbled as Jane rolled over to the side of the bed to answer the call. 

“I know babe, but it’s Emma,” Jane responded, picking up the phone. 

“Put it on speaker,” Maura asked, immediately awake.

“Good morning baby,” Jane greeted the woman on the other end of the phone. 

“Hey Jane, is Maura there with you?” Emma queried. 

“I’m right here darling, good morning,” Maura spoke. 

“Good morning you two.”

“Are you on your way back to Boston?” Jane asked. 

“Um, not yet, here’s the thing - I slept last night in a jail cell in this Storybrooke town, the Sheriff arrested me for drink driving,” Emma started, about to continue when Jane cut over the top of her.

“What? Ems, you’ve never driven drunk in your life, what happened?”

“If you’d let me continue,” Emma left the last word hanging.

“Sorry,” Jane repented.

“As I was saying, the Sheriff arrested me for driving drunk because I got into an accident.”

Once more, Emma was cut off.

“Emma, are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened?” Maura cried down the phone. 

“Seriously people, I have the talking stick right now!” Emma said loudly, “Anyways, there was a wolf in the middle of the road, I swerved to avoid it because it would have written off the bug. When I swerved, it was raining and I slid the back of the bug out and crashed into their ‘Welcome to Storybrooke’ sign. I was knocked out and woke up in one of their jail cells,” Emma finished her tale.

“Have you seen a doctor Emma?” Maura asked, her first priority was her girlfriends well being. 

“Not yet, but I’ll get there, I feel fine at the moment though.”

“Where are you now Ems?” Jane asked her question next.“I’m still in the Sheriffs Station, I’m helping the kids Mom and the Sheriff find the kid again.”

“Why?” Jane frowned, not that Emma could see it, “Didn’t you take him home last night?”

“Yeah I did, but it turns out he likes bolting. He’s disappeared again so I’m going to help find him before coming home.”

In the background of Emma’s location, Jane and Maura heard a sharp female voice say, “‘He’ has a name.”

“Babes, I’m gunna go but I will call you again as soon as I can. I have to find Henry. I love you two,” Emma smiled as she spoke. 

“We love you as well,” Jane and Maura said together before the phone call disconnected.

Jane set her phone back on the bedside table before rolling back into position cuddled up into Maura’s side, asking, “Do you think Emma will be okay?”

“I’m sure she will be, she’s tough,” Maura answer simply. 

“Oh, I’m an idiot,” Jane admonished herself, “I should have asked Emma if that Sheriff had charged her and if she want’s me to do anything.”

“If she did, Emma would have asked, Jane. I know she’ll feel compelled to help find the boy again before she comes home but if this Henry boy is constantly running away, it might be a while before Emma is back in Boston.”

“If the kid is constantly running away, what’s happening at home that he feels not being there is the best option for him?” Jane asked, knowing Maura would not be able to answer the question but still feeling the need to voice it. 

“I’m sure Emma will make sure he is okay, we can’t control that.”

“No, but we can control what we do for the day. What do you feel like doing?” Jane asked, deciding they’d best move onto a not so unhappy topic. 

“As much as I love laying in here with you, I am a bit hungry. Shall we get dressed and go out for breakfast?” Maura suggested. 

It didn’t take long for the ladies to be showered and dressed, ready for a rare day of just the two of them. It had been so long since it was just Jane and Maura, Maura and Jane. Though they wouldn’t change their relationship with Emma for the world, it was nice just spending time just the two of them. It reminded Jane and Maura why the two of them deciding to date in the first place.

Climbing into Maura’s Lexus, the pair drove to a cafe the two of them frequented, to the point the cashier knew their orders without being told. Whilst they ate, they thought on their missing girlfriend, and how she should have been with them. 

Both Jane and Maura knew Emma, and knew what she was like. The yellow blonde would not stop until she knew her progeny was safe, whether or not she had custody. 

Both women vowed to do whatever was necessary to help Emma in what was becoming her mission, making sure this mysterious Henry boy was safe.


	9. Lost and Found

After speaking to Jane and Maura on the phone in the Sheriff’s station, seeing as her phone was flat, Emma was whisked away from the station back to 108 Mifflin Street by Regina and Graham. 

This time, Emma saw more than the opulent foyer and reception room. She was led up the stair case winding around the inside of the mansion and up to the second floor to Henry’s bedroom. 

Emma looked around as she followed to the others into a spacious bedroom, decorated well, with lots of creature comforts Emma could only have dreamed of when she was Henry’s age. 

‘At least he lives in a nice house’, Emma thought as she spotted a desk with a computer on it. 

Emma sat down and booted up the computer whilst the Sheriff tried to make small talk with her, and Regina just paced the room. 

It didn’t take long with Emma’s computer skills and devices to find Henry’s recent email and internet history. 

The kid was smart, but not smart enough to beat technology. 

Quickly, Emma was able to locate a lead to finding Henry, in the form of Henry’s school teacher. 

Though grumpy about the prospect of seeing the pixie haired school teacher, Regina agreed to take Emma with her to Storybrooke Elementary School to see Mary Margaret Blanchard. 

Emma trailed into the school classroom behind Regina, dodging primary school children filing out of the room. 

In a tense few moments, Emma watched as Regina snidely treated the oblivious teacher, slightly horrified at the abruptness of the older woman. 

Although Emma’s first thoughts about Henry’s adoptive mother was that she was quite good looking - because she was - Emma was now seeing that looks could only get a person so far. Most of what Emma had seen of Regina Mills, she didn’t seem like the nicest of people.

Emma was happy to see, if only for a brief moment, Henry’s teacher stand up to the Mayor, only for the Mayor to loose her shit and storm out of the classroom purposely knocking over a stack of books left on one of the kids desks. 

Feeling bad for the younger brunette, Emma watched Regina leave before going over to Mary Margaret to help pick up the books.

Whilst conversing with this peculiar school teacher, Emma couldn’t explain why she felt it easy to speak openly to the woman. 

The pair discussed Henry for a while, Mary Margaret explaining how Henry is a special child whilst Emma commented on Regina’s parenting style. 

When Mary Margaret felt she’d gone too far in a comment about giving children up for adoption, she tried to backpedal and defend her actions. 

It was during this last moment of conversation did Emma understand, this school teacher knows where Henry might be. 

“You might wanna try his castle,” Mary Margaret suggested before having to leave. 

Emma was able to work out where Mary Margaret meant and headed over to the water front where she did indeed find Henry in a castle - a playground castle. 

Despite the wind, Henry was watching out from the platform of the playground castle, deep in thought. 

Emma climbed up behind him, and sat down, handing his story book to him, “You left this in the car.”

Though Emma wanted to discuss Henry’s constant running away, they ended up discussing Henry’s belief in his story book.

Using big words he obviously learnt in therapy, Henry made Emma feel better by saying he understands why she gave him away. 

As quickly as Henry made Emma feel better, the kid was able to make her feel down within a coupe of sentences, feeling sad as she felt she was disappointing the kid. 

Listening to Henry begging Emma not to take him home broke something inside of the blonde woman, causing her to rail on the kid her past problems. She revealed about her past in foster care to him and implored Henry to give Regina a chance. 

Instantly though, Henry begged Emma to believe she was put through a portal from the Enchanted Forrest. 

Having had enough, Emma, defeated, said, “Come on Henry,” and took him home to his mother, surviving a stoney silent car ride with the ten year old. 

Emma watched Henry run inside past Regina, and watched as the brunette decided to speak to Emma instead of going after her son. 

Whilst Emma thought they could have had a civil conversation, Regina instead yelled at Emma that she would have no part in Henry’s life, throwing a ten year old decision made in juvenile detention back in Emma’s face. 

Not giving up without a fight, Emma demanded an answer from the frustratingly beautiful woman, “Do you love him?”

When the brunette replied in the affirmative, Emma’s lie detector was silent, confirming that, though she seemed bitchy, the older woman did indeed love her son. Sensing something was still amiss, Emma made the decision to extend her stay in Storybrooke for a week, checking into Grannies BnB before calling her girlfriends to inform them of her plan.


	10. The 'Punisher' Appears

Jane and Maura went into work that morning, greeted by a stack of outstanding paperwork. 

During their day off, which wasn’t used for its original purpose, Frost and Korsak had figured out who their murderer was, and were now trying to find him.

The female victim from the library was a student at Boston Cambridge University, and had uncovered a student drug ring being conducted by the senior students distributing to the juniors. The study material found under the victim was her own investigation into the drug dealers. 

An investigation that cost the student her life. 

Using the information collated by the victim, and a short black hair found on the victims body in stark contrast to her own long platinum blonde hair, Frost and Korsak were able to work out the murderer was the captain of the football team, head of the drug ring.

Having been unable to locate the murderer the night before at his home or hangouts, it was up to Jane and Frost to stake out the BCU campus trying to locate Arthur Hawthorne. 

The pair immediately went to the Headmasters office to locate Hawthorne’s first class, aptly, football training.

The Headmaster gave them Hawthorne’s school files which they perused walking through the campus to the football fields out the back.

Arriving at the fields, Jane and Frost were able to easily find the seniors football team in training, all wearing the school football uniforms, complete with helmets. 

“Shit,” Frost muttered, realising they wouldn’t be able to identify Hawthorne until after practice. 

“Hand me that file,” was all Jane responded, flipping through the pages until she got to Hawthorne’s football file. She read through the document for a few moments until she found what she was looking for, “he’s in the number 8 jersey.”

“And this is why we work in pairs,” Frost commented as he and Jane once again headed towards the football field.

It didn’t take Jane long to locate their wanted player. 

“There,” she pointed out a tall solid looking quarter back doing drills on the field closest to her and Frost.

As Jane walked towards the field, she kept her eye on her quarry, watching as he repetitively caught and threw the football to his running backs. 

It was only when Jane and Frost were about fifteen feet away did Hawthorne realise the presence of the detectives. Jane watched the realisation cross Hawthorne’s face, and watched as he made the stupid decision to run. 

Though he was a quarterback, Jane’s nickname in her flag-football team was ‘The Punisher’, and for good reason.

As soon as Hawthorne started running, Jane took off after him, Frost hot on her heels. Jane chased Hawthorne to the other side of the football field, entering the cover of a seating area, causing Jane to leap over concrete tables and chairs in order to cut Hawthorne off as he got to a walkway. 

Lining Hawthorne up as she was running, Jane dipped her left shoulder and extended her her long arm out, tackling Hawthorne into a pile of trash cans, Frost providing cover as Jane wrestled Hawthorne into a pair of handcuffs. 

Once Hawthorne was secure in handcuffs, though still struggling, Jane removed the football helmet from his head and placed it on the top of last remaining standing trash can, revealing a head of short black hair, consistent with the hair found at the crime scene. Of course, Maura would have to confirm this in her lab after the appropriate testing.

“Arthur Hawthorne,” Jane spoke to the quarterback whilst she and Frost helped him to his feet, “you are under arrest for the murder of Shannon Rooke.”

As Jane handed the helmet from the trash can to the Headmaster, who’d followed the detectives at a distance, Frost read Hawthorne his rights before leading him away to the waiting patrol car.

Jane briefly spoke to the Headmaster and followed Frost to the front of the campus, thanking the Headmaster for his help as she climbed into the drivers seat of her car, following the patrol car to BPD Headquarters to interview Hawthorne. 

***

Maura knocked on the interview room door, an hour after Jane and Frost returned with Hawthorne.

Walking into the room, Maura briefly nodded to her girlfriend and Frost, handing the latter the manila folder in her hand. 

Frost opened the folder, seeing the DNA test from Hawthorne’s hair matched that found at their crime scene, confirming, along with their other evidence, that Hawthorne was their killer. 

Frost showed Jane the results and handed Maura back the folder before the blonde woman left the room. 

Maura didn’t have to wait long for Jane to finish her interview, as Hawthorne chose not to speak anymore after being shown the DNA evidence against him. The only reason Hawthorne gave for killing Shannon Rooke was that he didn’t want her informing the Headmaster about his drug ring. 

Frost took Hawthorne down to the watch house whilst Jane sat with Maura for a quick break before officially charging the now former quarter back. 

“Emma rang,” Maura told Jane, “whilst you were out at BCU. She’s staying in Storybrooke for a week, she doesn’t think something is quite right with little Henry.”

“Is he okay?” 

“I don’t know, all she said was things were a bit weird in the town, she wanted to look further into it before leaving.”

Jane sighed, missing her girlfriend, “I hope she comes home soon, I miss her.”

Maura placed her hand on top of Jane’s scarred ones, “I miss her too, dear.”

“If she is going to be over there for much longer, we should think about going there as well, what do you think?”

Maura thought for a moment, “I agree, if only to support Emma. As an added bonus, we could make a holiday out of it, we haven’t been away all together for so long.”

“Yeah, that would be nice,” Jane wondered out loud, “A week or two with no dead bodies, no murderous football players, just us, and a couple of pina coladas relaxing, wherever people relax in this Storybrooke place.”

“That does sound good,” Maura agreed. 

“Right, well, we’ll organise it with Emma after this week is done, and see if she is going to stay there longer again.”

They sat in silence for a few moments, contemplating their missing girlfriend and the possible holiday they could have to be back with her. Before too long though, Frost was back and it was time for Jane and Maura to get back to work. 

If Maura wanted to be able to go home with Jane at a reasonable hour, she had to get to work on the two routine autopsies she and Kent had to get through that afternoon. 

As for Jane, her afternoon would be filled with more paperwork, filing Court documents for her and Frosts arrest.


	11. A Pissed Off Blonde with a Chainsaw

Woken up with a start from an unusual noise, Emma took a moment to realise she was in Storybrooke, Maine, not Beacon Hill, Boston. 

Stretching Emma took a few moments to wake up before ringing Jane and Maura before they had to go into work, making herself a coffee as she did so.

Their phone call was cut short by a knocking on Emma’s motel room door. 

Still wearing what she went to bed in, Emma answered the door in her see-through white tank top, black bra and pink panties. Being proud of her figure, Emma didn’t care about answering the door in those clothes, coffee mug in hand. 

Opening the door, Emma was surprised to see Mayor Regina Mills standing at her door, a basket of crisp red apples in hand. 

Without evening getting in a word of greeting, the Mayor launched into a lecture about her precious apple tree, not that Emma cared about it. 

Through the course of their brief, and snarky, conversation, the Mayor learnt Emma planned to stay in her town for a while, whilst Emma figured out the Mayor, though beautiful, seemed nuts, in Emma’s opinion.

After closing the door in Regina’s face, leaving Emma still holding an apple, the latter decided to get dressed to go downstairs for breakfast, shooting Jane and Maura a text telling them she would call them later. 

Making her way down stairs into the diner, Emma kept thinking on the Mayors behaviour at her door, and her veiled threats. 

Emma was about to take a bite from the apple Regina left her when Ruby, the tall, leggy waitress placed a hot chocolate down in front of her, telling her she had a secret admirer. 

After watching Emma admonish Graham for sending the drink over, Henry revealed himself to be the sender of the drink, giving Emma an early morning dose of sarcasm when she asked him if he had school.

Emma walked Henry to school and engaged him in a conversation about his book, Henry revealing his plan to be Operation Cobra. During their walk, Emma was about to take a bite of the apple in her hand before Henry saw it and threw it away behind them. If Emma wasn’t trying so hard not to laugh at the young boys behaviour, she would have scolded him for littering. 

When they finally got to the school, Emma met the teacher again from yesterday. They spoke for a while, Emma working hard to school her features when she learnt she was face to face with her supposed mother - according to Henry.

Though she didn’t believe Henry’s tales about the book, the boy would have her believe she was talking to the mother that gave her up at birth, Snow White, who was now his school teacher. It didn’t compute in her brain and she needed to get away from the school. 

Thinking of a segue to leave the conversation, Emma asked Mary Margaret about Henrys shrink, and soon found herself in the company of Doctor Archibald Hopper, or Jiminy Cricket, depending on who was naming him. 

Ignoring the quip the Doctor made about PTSD, Emma sought out Henry’s records, which Doctor Hopper was only too happy to provide. 

Or so Emma thought. 

For the second time in less than 24 hours, Emma found herself once again in the Sheriffs Station, arrested, this time for stealing the files willingly provided to her. 

It didn’t take much time, or sass from Emma, for Henry to show up at the station, Mary Margaret in tow, to congratulate Emma on her plan for Operation Cobra. 

Emma didn’t know what it was, but whilst speaking to the school teacher, Emma found herself willing to trust the lady, her usual instincts not to trust people not occurring in this brunettes presence. 

Emma listened to Henry sass the Sheriff before getting an idea on revenge for the Mayor. 

Seeking out a chainsaw from the hardware store in town, Emma took great joy in taking the chainsaw to the Mayors beloved apple tree, enjoying watching the gorgeous brunette, hips swinging as she marched across the lawn, a determined and sexy, but angry, look across the Latinas face. 

The pair engaged in a small bit of verbal sparing before Emma marched off with a satisfied grin on her face, leaving the Mayor to grieve over the damage done to the tree.

Job done at the Mayors tree, Emma took a few minutes on her way back to her room at Granny’s to call Jane and Maura. 

During their conversation, Emma told them about her adventures in Storybrooke, and admitted the damage to the apple tree so, if she found herself arrested for a third time, her girlfriends wouldn’t worry themselves if they don’t hear from her for a while. 

“As much as I want to come home to Boston, I think I need to stay here for a while,” Emma explained, “Henry’s mother, she’s gorgeous but she’s crazy!”

“Gorgeous?” Jane laughed, “Do we need to be jealous?”

“Jane, darling, you are the brunette in my life, I’m just admiring what’s in front of me, you would too, if you came out here and saw her.”

“Would you like us to come to Maine, Emma?” Maura asked, mentally working out when she could spare some time off if Emma planned to stay in Maine for a while.

“I think I’ll give it two weeks here and see how Henry goes, and make a decision then. Would it be okay with you two if I stayed here for another two weeks?” Emma asked nervously.

Not that Emma could see Jane’s head shaking, but she shook her head as she replied anyway, “Of course babe, you do what you need to do, you know we’ll support you any which way. If you do decide to stay for a while, let us know and we’ll come to Maine for a while when we can.”

Arriving at the BnB, Emma thanked her girlfriends for their understanding before hanging up, promising to try to stay out of trouble.

Emma was barely inside for ten minutes before she was walking out again, having been asked by a regretful Granny for her room key back. 

Thinking of what to do next, Emma pulled her ringing phone out of her pocket, seeing the Mayor was calling, at the same time she saw the Mayor had had her yellow bugs tyre clamped. 

Storming into City Hall after being summoned, Emma made the decision to sort out her issues with the beautiful Mayor. This planned backfired though when Henry stumbled across their conversation, orchestrated of course by Regina, only hearing Emma using the words Doctor Hopper warned her about. 

Emma wasn’t in time to catch the boy before he left the building and had no idea where to find him. She decided to let him be, and stay with his mother, as she only seemed to screw up his life, just as she did to nearly everyone she met. Emma decided then that she would return to Boston, to Jane and Maura, the only things in her life she hadn’t screwed up.

Deciding she had to pay Mary Margaret back the bail money before leaving, she went to the school teachers apartment and had a chat over cocoa with cinnamon, an eerily familiar combination to Emma.

Emma actually listened to Mary Margaret, and somehow, the pixie haired woman got through to the stubborn blonde, who marched over to Doctor Hoppers office, knowing from what Regina had mentioned in the office that Henry would be with the Doctor at that time of night. 

Emma spoke with Henry, earning herself a great big hug and a warming heart, deciding then and there that for the foreseeable future, Storybrooke would be her home, even if that meant living in the bug for a while. 

It certainly wouldn’t be the first time.


	12. A Romantic Dinner for Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last third of chapter NSFW...

As far as paperwork went for Jane after solving a case, the Hawthorne case was pretty easy, considering it was Frost’s arrest. Jane had only to help compile the brief of evidence for her partner. 

She wrapped up the outstanding paperwork by 4:00pm the afternoon after Hawthorne was arrested and was free as a bird, waiting only for Maura to finish in the morgue.

Heading down to the basement office, Jane waited in Maura’s office, stretching out as much as she could on Maura’s short couch. 

Whilst waiting, Jane decided to go ‘full romantic’ as Emma was laughingly call it, and planned a romantic night for her and Maura to enjoy, even though she felt bad about Emma missing out. 

The blonde had called her girlfriends from Maine that morning and relayed the updated news of her choice to stay in Storybrooke for her son.

“As we said, Emma, you do what you need to do for you and Henry. I’ll have a look at the roster in the morgue and see when I can spare some time off so we can come to you for a while,” Maura reassured Emma again that other blonde was doing the right thing.

It left Jane with free time to devote to her doctor, as she would show Doctor Isles tonight, all going to plan. 

Maura had not realised Jane was in her office, and so was startled when she walked in on Jane napping on the couch she didn’t really fit on. 

Kneeling down as best she could in a pencil skirt, Maura gently shook Jane awake calling her name softly, keeping in mind Jane’s reactions to being violently woken up from a sleep or nap - it did not bode well for the person or situation that awoke Jane abruptly.

Smiling lovingly as Jane’s eyes blinked open, Maura planted a kiss to her lovers forehead, standing back up as Jane sat up. 

“Hey, baby,” Jane crooned.

“I take it you’ve finished work if you’re creeping into my office for a nap?” 

“M’not creeping,” Jane pretended to sulk.

“Right,” Maura returned, slipping her arms into Jane’s and pulling the taller woman up for a proper kiss. 

“Do you have plans for dinner, babe?” Jane asked the doctor.

“No, do you?”

“I’ve just made plans for us, let’s going home and get changed, I’ll make the reservation on the way. I want to take you out somewhere nice and have a romantic evening with you,” Jane whispered into Maura’s ear, hands sliding down to cover Maura’s ass in her pencil skirt.

Moaning slightly into Jane’s ear in return, Maura answered, “I would love that, let’s go.”

The pair left the morgue and raced home for a shared shower, Face Timing Emma from the shower so the blonde wasn’t entirely missing out. Emma appeared to have been in a diner when they called, and had made her way out into the back alley when she realised her girlfriends were calling her naked from their shower. 

The three caught up whilst Jane and Maura were cleaning each other, both putting on a show for their girlfriend, loving that Emma was in a semi public place. Neither Jane nor Maura were into exhibitionism so even though they were showering, they kept it as ‘G’ rated as they could whilst being naked. okay, maybe ‘PG’.

After making their girlfriends night and saying goodbye, Jane and Maura left for the Italian restaurant Jane booked. 

Though the pair had the best Italian chef living in their granny-flat, they still enjoyed going out to Italian restaurants.

Maura chose their menu that night, choosing specifically foods, and wine, that would make their mouths taste amazing any time they kissed that night. 

Already just sitting at the table in the crowded restaurant, Maura loved the lingering taste of red wine in Jane’s mouth after kissing her waiting for their tiramisu. She couldn’t wait to get Jane home and taste the rest of her. 

Jane too, was struggling to keep the evening subdued enough that she and Maura wouldn’t get kicked out of her favourite restaurant.

By the time the pair made it to the car, the not so subtle caresses began, Maura’s hand gliding up Jane’s thigh as the brunette navigated traffic and the streets of Boston. If Maura wasn’t careful, Jane would pull her Lexus over and take Maura in the backseat, not that the doctor would complain. 

As the pair arrived, somewhat dishevelled, to their house, Maura wasted no time ripping Jane’s clothing from her body right in the entrance way after opening the front door. Jane too started to pull down the zip on the back of Maura when the creak of a floor board stopped both woman in their tracks, spinning around with just her bra covering her breasts, Jane found her mother trying to sneak out the back door, back to the granny-flat.

“Ma!”

“Um, hi Janie, Maura,” Angela awkwardly greeted the pair. 

“What are you doing in here Ma?” 

Looking sheepish, Angela answered as Jane put her shirt back on, but not before zipping up Maura’s dress so she wouldn’t lose her dignity too, “Well, the TV in my place broke tonight, I don’t know what happened but it wouldn’t turn on. There was a program I wanted to watch on tonight and so I thought I’d borrow Maura’s TV whilst you two weren’t home. I’m sorry I interrupted your evening, I tried to leave quietly.”

“It’s okay Angela. Have you organised for someone to look at your TV?” Maura asked, trying to get the topic away from what she and Jane were about to do in front of her mother-in-law.

“Yeah, Frankie is going to come look at it tomorrow. I’m just gunna go, goodnight,” Angela said as she left the main house.

Sighing and dropping her head onto Maura’s shoulder, Jane whinged, “Well that was embarrassing!” 

“I think your mom was more embarrassed than you were, dear,” Maura soothed her detective. 

“Mm, probably,” raising her head, Jane continued, “but now that she’s gone, where were we?”

“I think we were right about here,” Maura mumbled, pressing her lips against Jane’s and once more ripping off Jane’s shirt. 

Jane returned her hands to Maura’s back and unzipped the dress, taking Maura’s hand to help her step out of the material pooled at her feet, still in her heels.

Jane whistled as she took in the beauty that was Maura, standing there in the entrance way in just lingerie and high heels. Jane picked Maura up as the doctor wrapped her legs around her girlfriend. Jane carried her to the island bench in the kitchen and lay her down, looking across her shoulder to make sure the blinds in the kitchen and dining room were drawn before committing to her next act. 

Grinning at the nearly whimpering doctor, Jane ran her hands across Maura’s torso and abdomen, hooking her fingers into Maura panties when she got to the blondes hip bones. Jane dragged the underwear down Maura’s legs and proceeding to taste and tease Maura where she needed Jane the most. 

It didn’t take long for Maura to reach her peak, not with Jane’s experienced and talented tongue.

Desperate to return the favour, Maura slipped off the island bench and took Jane’s hand, leading her, still in her heels, upstairs for a night filled with passion. 

The only thing that would have made the night better would have been if Emma was there to share it with them.

Maura vowed, that when she and Jane got to Storybrooke, they would make a repeat of this night, with all three of them together, how it should be.

But for now though, Maura put her tongue to work, working on the girlfriend she did have with her.


	13. Dad?

Emma was sitting in the bug after eating dinner at Granny’s and was combing through the Mirror, trying to find possible rentals, seeing as she was no longer welcome to live at the BnB. the Mayor’s doing. 

As Emma was about to give up for the night and close her eyes, she was approached by Henry’s teacher, Mary Margaret. 

They spoke for a few moments, joking about the curse and dates. Emma was taken aback when the teacher offered for Emma to stay at her place, in her spare room. 

Emma politely declined, citing a penchant for being better on her own. It wasn’t strictly the truth, not now that she was living with Jane and Maura, but it was the truth that Emma didn’t do well living with strangers, a throwback to her foster care days. 

Emma drove her Bug out to Henry’s castle and slept there in the car park for the night, her window slightly down, allowing the sea breeze to waft through the car, providing Emma with fresh air.

It wasn’t the worst night Emma spent in her car. She was only in her jeans and white tank top, with a blanket from her trunk to keep her warm. 

Though she woke at any slight noise, sea birds squawking, waves crashing, ship horns blaring, Emma slept pretty well. She awoke properly with the sun, pulling on her boots, getting out of the Bug to stretch her legs.

She walked around for a few minutes before she saw Henry walking towards the castle. She waited there for him, and together, they climbed up into one of the towers. 

Henry told Emma he’d found her father, and went on to show the blonde a picture in his storybook of a blonde man standing in the middle of a forrest. Henry pointed out all the reasons why this Prince Charming was her father, and Mary Margarets soul mate. 

After discussing it for a while, and Emma agreeing to help Henry in her own way, they started to leave the castle, but not before Henry commented on Emma’s wardrobe, or lack thereof. 

“Emma, you’ve been wearing the same clothes since you got to town. You need a clean shirt,” Henry commented, screwing up his nose to the right like he was wont to do. 

“I don’t exactly have my entire clothe collection with me here kid,” Emma defended herself. 

“I’ll find something from my Moms closet for you, I’m sure something there will fit you,” he said, as if it was nothing to steal clothes from one woman to give to another. 

“You’re a real Robin Hood, Henry,” Emma replied. 

“Don’t call me that!” Henry exclaimed. 

“Okay then, sorry.”

Emma looked at Henry for a moment, trying to work out why he was so offended to be called ‘Robin Hood’, but couldn’t work out why, ‘It must be something to do with the storybook’, Emma thought. 

She drove Henry back into town, dropping him home a street away so the Mayor wouldn’t see them spending time together, before driving over to Mary Margarets apartment and filling her in on Henry’s plan, both agreeing nothing would likely come of it.

Emma left the storybook with the teacher and left after their drinks were finished.

That afternoon, Emma met up with Henry at the diner, Henry handing over the promised shirt, saying his mom wouldn’t ever notice it missing. 

It was a dark grey silk blouse, because of course the Mayor would wear silk clothes. Despite it belonging to another woman, it fit Emma well enough, and she actually liked the shirt. As she buttoned it up and rolled up the sleeves, Emma couldn’t help but take in the smell of the clean material. Without seeming creeping, Emma enjoyed the smell of it, it was nice. It reminded her of the nice clothes Maura wears when the three of them go out on a date night. 

Tucking her dirty tank top behind her in the booth as she sat down to speak with Henry, Emma enquired as to where Regina thought her son was, laughing slightly when she heard the answer was playing Whack-a-Mole.

Emma smiled when she made a comment about believing that went entirely over the ten-year-olds head. 

Their conversation was interrupted when Mary Margaret came into the diner saying John Doe, or Prince Charming according to Henry, woke up.

Off to the hospital they went to learn not only was John Doe missing, but that Regina Mills is his emergency contact. 

Regina stormed out of John Doe’s room when she saw her son with the blonde woman who wouldn’t leave her son alone. 

Regina grabbed Henry’s arm to drag him away the blonde woman, making Emma growl silently at her treatment of the boy. 

After a snarky exchange by all parties, Regina left the hospital with Henry but not before leaning into Emma’s personal space and commenting on her attire. With Regina that close to Emma, Emma immediately knew the aroma of the shirt came from the Mayors perfume, as she got a huge whiff of it as the Mayor leaned into her. Yet still, after Regina’s behaviour and comments, Emma still liked the scent of the brunettes perfume, not that she would compliment her on it. 

With the Mayor gone, Emma stayed with the Sheriff and Mary Margaret to find John Doe, leading her to be searching the woods of Storybrooke with the sheriff, the teacher, and unexpectedly, Henry. 

Eventually they found themselves, and John Doe at the Toll Bridge. It took the worst chest compressions Emma had ever seen conducted in her life, and a breath of air from Mary Margaret to wake the John Doe, who was taken back to hospital for medical attention. 

It was only when the group of rescuers were at the hospital watching the doctors work when the John Doe’s name was revealed by a blonde woman crying his name. 

The picture of evil, in Henry’s eyes, Regina came strolling into the midst of the group announcing John Doe - David Nolan - had a wife, Katherine, the blonde who was standing watching the doctors work on her husband. 

Soon, Katherine came out to speak to the group, thanking them for finding David, and told them about their life together, and how they now have a second chance. 

Doctor Whale came out of the hospital room to announce David would be making a full recovery, despite the memory issues plaguing him. 

After the announcement, Henry was forced to leave with his mother, who was grounding him for insubordination. Henry stretched his mothers patience by speaking for a few more minutes with Mary Margaret. 

Whilst Emma was listening to Henry talk to his teacher, Emma was thinking about the situation, not believing a word the Mayor spoke. 

As a result, Emma chased Regina through the hospital and called bullshit on her story. They didn’t exactly argue, but rather traded sharp jabs at each other before Regina took her leave, following Henry out into the parking lot. 

When Emma left the hospital, she drove around aimlessly, talking to Jane and Maura on the phone, relaying the days events. 

“Have you found somewhere to stay, dear?” Maura asked. 

“Nope, there’s no rentals that I can find, I can’t stay at the BnB because of the ‘No Felons’ rule-” 

“Yes, my little criminal,” Jane laughed.

“Hey! I didn’t do either of the things I was arrested for, okay?” Emma defended herself, “The one crime I did commit, I didn’t get arrested for, you go figure!”

“I know hun, I’m just trying to make you laugh, I love your laugh,” Jane placated the blonde. 

“Anyways, I’m just driving around town at the moment hoping to see any ‘For Lease’ signs on some houses or something,”

“Is there anyone there that you can stay with for the night and look around more tomorrow? Maura questioned. 

“Um, Henry’s school teacher, the one who he’s trying to tell me is my mother, Snow White? She kinda invited me to stay at her place, but it’s weird, you know I don’t do well living with strangers.”

“I know you don’t hun, but it looks like it’s your best option at the moment if there are no rentals,” Jane advised, “you said she seems nice enough, not a serial killer or anything. At least stay there tonight, so we know you’re safe, have a hot shower and try again tomorrow. Who knows, you might actually like staying there.”

“I guess,” Emma eventually agreed, turning the Bug around and heading back into town to Mary Margarets apartment, “I really miss you two, I can’t wait to see you again. Do you know when you might be able to come out here?”

“Jane and I are trying out best at work to figure out some time off, as soon as we know, we’ll tell you. We can stay in the BnB together, surely they will let you in if you’re not actually living there.”

“I hope so,”

“Make us a list of things you want us to bring to you for when we’re able to come out, hopefully you’ll find a place to live by then,” Jane added. 

“Yep, I’ll think about it. I just got to Mary Margarets place, I’m gunna let you guys go and call you later, probably tomorrow. I love you two.”“We love you too,” was chorused back to Emma before she hung up the phone. 

Grabbing her emergency bag, Emma looked up the apartment building and into the top floor window she knew looked into the school teachers apartment. 

‘This is as good as it’s gunna get,’ Emma thought to herself as she walked up the stairs to what would, with any luck, be somewhere she could live for a while without being kicked out.


	14. Miss Me?

As it turned out, it took Maura and Jane four weeks to be able to clear their schedules enough to head up to Maine to visit Emma. 

On her final day of work before leaving, Maura ran Kent through everything she wanted him to deal with him the morgue for the two weeks she would be away.

With Kent and Susie in control, Maura had no doubts the morgue would run smoothly.

At 5:30pm, Maura collected up her handbag and belongings, turned the light out in her office and made her way upstairs to the Homicide bull pen to find Jane. 

Jane herself was finalising all the matters on her task list before her leave, and talked Frost through the only open investigation she had, which he would be taking over on.

When they finished their handover, Frost and Korsak both gave Jane a hug and told her they would miss her whilst she was away, but that they would make sure nobody sat at her desk. 

As they were saying their goodbyes, Maura entered the office, saying goodbye to the two gentlemen as well. 

“We will see you two in a couple of weeks time, don’t get into too much trouble,” Maura wished them farewell as she and Jane entered the elevator to the parking garage. 

Jane led Maura over to the blondes Lexus and opened the passenger door for her. Despite the fact the Lexus belonged to Maura, Jane mostly drove the pair, normally the trio, around, no matter what car they were in. No one questioned it, it was just the way things went, Jane was a natural born driver. 

The only time Jane doesn’t drive, normally, is when she can’t, like when she badly sprained her ankle a few years ago chasing a perp. Jane tried to drive despite the injury but after a few failed corners, the keys were handed over to Maura, so as not to crash the Lexus. 

Climbing in the drivers seat, Jane started the car and took a hold of Maura’s hand, holding it until she had to let go to get out of the parking garage. As soon as she could though, Maura’s hand was back in Jane’s. 

The drive to their house didn’t take long, and when they opened up the garage door to put the Lexus away, they were greeted by a wonderful surprise. 

A yellow bug parked on the far left side of the garage, next to Jane’s Subaru.

Neither woman could wait to get out of the car and into the house, work bags and handbags laying forgotten in the back seat of the luxury car. 

Virtually running inside, Jane and Maura found Emma sitting on the island bench in the kitchen, with a bowl of Bass’ strawberries and a chilled bottle of champagne sitting next to her. 

Jane’s breath was stolen from her when she saw Emma’s attire, an aqua crystal Chantilly Lace and Satin Slip, one Jane knew was purchased from Victoria’s Secret, if the pink and cream striped bag sitting behind Emma was any indication. 

Obviously having heard her girlfriends come home, Emma had jumped up on the island bench in the kitchen, and, with her legs crossed over each other, was in the process of pouring three glasses of champagne, each with a strawberry in the glass, as Jane and Maura walked, ran, through the door. 

Emma didn’t take her eyes off her task of pouring the glasses as her girlfriends approached, the smirk on her face showed she knew what affect she was having on the pair.

Reaching Emma at the same time, Maura and Jane each put a hand on Emma’s top knee, desperately wanting contact with the blonde. 

“Emma,” Maura whispered, taking the glass handed to her by her blonde girlfriend.

Turning around to face the women standing in front of her, Emma let her smirk form into a genuinely wide smile, opening her legs to surround her girls and pull them closer, “I missed you two. Surprise,” Emma said by way of greeting, and explanation.

Without missing a beat, Jane forwent her greeting, instead, choosing to kiss Emma deeply, plundering her girlfriends mouth in a way she hadn’t been able to in nearly six weeks.

“I missed you, too,” Jane murmured when she finally broke away from Emma’s lips when the need for air became too urgent.

“I can tell,” Emma replied, tucking a stray strand of long brown hair behind its owners ear.

Maura, having been sipping on her champagne as she watched her girlfriends kiss, decided it was her turn to kiss Emma, and pulled the other blonde down gently, meeting their lips, Maura’s tasting of champagne, Emma’s of Jane.

Jane herself sipped her champagne and opened the Victoria’s Secret bag further, noting there were more goodies inside. 

Emma pulled away from Maura when she heard the rustle of tissue paper from behind her, indicating Jane was snooping on her presents.

Before Jane could get much further, Emma pulled the bag away from the brunette and slipped off the kitchen bench, picking up her champagne flute and casually walking up the stairs to their bedroom, a room she hasn’t slept in in over a month, knowing Jane and Maura would trail behind her.

When the trio reached the bedroom, Jane and Maura saw Emma had set the mood for their return.

Emma sat on the end of their bed and gestured for the pair to come over to her. When the two women were standing in front of her, she opened up the Victoria’s Secret bag and handed each woman a tissue wrapped gift, marked ‘M’ and ‘J’ respectively.

Opening up their gifts, they saw Emma purchased them the same slip she was wearing, Jane’s in her customary black, Maura’s in coconut white. 

“Baby, they’re beautiful,” Jane whispered to Emma, kissing her in thanks.

“Yes, Em’s, thank you so much dear,” Maura added, stealing herself a kiss. 

“I’m glad you both like them, I thought I’d come and surprise you two, and help drive to Maine tomorrow. I stopped, obviously, on the way here, and saw these, loved them and bought them,” Emma explained. 

“As much as I just want to rip my clothes off and put this on,” Jane said, “I desperately need a shower after work. So let’s put plans on hold for five minutes whilst I shower, I’ll be right back.”

“Why do we have to wait, I’ll join you in the shower,” Emma jumped at the chance to remain close to her girls. 

“I suppose I could also be tempted into a warm shower with my ladies,” Maura laughed softly. 

It was a good thing her ensuite was redecorate three years ago after Emma moved in. The shower was expanded, to three times the size of a normal shower, with three heads, to allow the three of them to shower at the same time without forgoing warm water. There were three sinks to save time in the mornings when they were sometimes rushed. The only thing singular in the ensuite, was the toilet itself. 

Maura knew that if they were to ever leave this house prospective buyers would wonder why the bathroom was basically in triplicate, but it worked her her family, so she was happy with it. 

Despite having only been wearing her slip for less than twenty minutes, Emma disrobed out of it, to join a very naked Jane Rizzoli in the shower, Maura following not a moment longer. 

With all three of them together, they spent the first three minutes huddled together under one head in a tight hug, just remembering how they all fit together snuggly in their threesome. They delighted in just being together, touching, feeling, hugging each other. Something they hadn’t been able to do as a trio in far too long.

“Please don’t be away from us this long again,” Jane mused, holding Emma tightly to her and Maura.

“I’ll try darling,” Emma whispered back, kissing each of her girlfriends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Google the slip, you know you want to :)


	15. Reconnecting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW 
> 
> (Did someone want a jealous Jane? Slightly jealous Jane ahead)

Emma, Jane, and Maura stayed in the shower for a while longer before actually showering and exiting. Drying off, the trio couldn’t keep the smiles off their faces at being back how they belonged. 

Jane led the charge out into their bedroom, each donning their slip from Emma before going down to the kitchen to cook some food. 

As much as Jane and Maura wanted to reacquaint themselves with Emma’s body, the need for food won out. 

Jane started taking out vegetables and some steak, slicing the food thinly to make a stir fry for them to eat. As she was sautéing the veggies, Jane’s attention was brought to the actions of her girlfriends. 

Emma had, as was customary, jumped up to sit on the island bench in the kitchen whilst Jane cooked. 

Stirring the stir fry, Jane watched as Maura walked to stand in front of Emma, the latter opening her legs and wrapping them around Maura’s waist, pulling the darker blonde closer to her. 

Maura tipped Emma’s head backwards and longingly kissed her girlfriend, enjoying the interactions she’d been missing for nearly two months. 

Smiling, Jane left the frypan on the element as she walked over to wrap her arms around Maura’s back, just wanting to be close to her girls. 

Maura broke away from Emma, stepping out of her legs and letting Jane take her place, Maura taking over the cooking. 

‘This is the life’, Emma thought, her hands running over Jane’s back. 

Not from lack of want, but rather from hunger, Jane and Emma also separated, Maura carrying three bowls to the table, Jane bringing cutlery and Emma bringing three glasses of wine.

They sat down to eat, Emma discussing her time in Storybrooke, telling Jane and Maura about the time she searched for a missing pregnant teenager, rescuing Henry from being trapped in the towns mines to the time she got into a fist fight with the beautiful Mayor in the cemetery.

She regaled tales of her adventures after she was elected Sheriff, following the untimely death of the towns Sheriff. Maura growled at Emma when she heard of the light blondes fire heroics, chastising Emma for nearly getting herself burnt whilst Jane congratulated her on saving a woman who clearly dislikes Emma so much. Now, Maura had two police officer girlfriends to worry about on shift, even though she knew theoretically Emma would be safer in Storybrooke than Jane was here in Boston.

Emma continued with her updates of Storybrooke, “Jane, you should see the Mayor, babe, she is beautiful, just like you. She’s tall, brunette, brown eyes full of electricity with a seriousness nearly unmatched.”

Jane’s instant reaction, even though she knew Emma wouldn’t do anything, was to growl softly under her breath, jealous Jane rising to the surface. 

“Jane,” Maura softly called to her brunette girlfriend, “Emma can think someone beautiful without you needing to become jealous, from what Emma’s said, I would probably think she looks good too,” Maura said, winking at Emma, knowing she was playing at Jane’s not normally present ego.

“Yeah, Janie, trust me, as much as Regina is gorgeous, nothing will happen because, one, she seems to absolute hate me, and two, she’s Henry’s mom, it would be weird for the kid. And three, I’m with you and Maura.”

Jane looked slightly abashed at her reaction, listening to Emma carry on, “Sorry babe, she probably is good looking, I shouldn’t hold that against you. After all, that’s how you came into Maura and my relationship, we both thought you were beautiful and kind enough that we both wanted to spend more time with you. Let us meet your Mayor, and make our own minds up.”

“Meet her? I’m not sure about that’s a good idea.”

“We’ll have to meet her, seeing as how she’s Henry’s mom also,” Maura replied. 

“Also?”

“Yeah,” Jane added, “you and Regina are Henry’s moms.”

“No, I don’t think so, I’m not Henry’s mom. I’m just, Emma.” Emma hastily said with a sad look on her face.

“‘Just Emma’? Well, ‘Just Emma’, I think you are special to Henry, because you gave birth to him, and even though you gave him up, you have been looking out for him for the last two months,” Jane told her, taking Emma’s pale hand into hers and giving it a squeeze. 

With tears in her eyes, Emma quietly thanked Jane for believing in her. 

Maura changed the conversation onto lighter topics, she and Jane filling Emma in on all the silly things TJ and Tommy have gotten up to recently.

Eventually, the trio finished their dinner and locked up downstairs, making their way to their bathroom for their nighty routines, not practised in two months, but not forgotten.

Finishing in the bathroom before Jane and Maura, Emma stepped out into their bedroom and dimmed the lights and drew the curtain. She took a seat on the decorative armchair Maura placed over in the corner, slipping the left spaghetti strap off her shoulder, her way of enticing her lovers. 

And they fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. 

Jane came into the bedroom before Maura, and stopped to stare at her returned girlfriend, admiring her feature in the soft light of the room. Jane was standing just beyond the door to the bathroom for so long, Maura walked out and straight into Jane. 

When Maura saw what had captured Jane’s attention, her pupils blew wide, arousal coursing through her veins.

Maura took Jane’s hand in her own and led her over to Emma, both women sitting on each of Emma’s knees, but still holding most of their own body weight on their feet so as not to crush Emma. 

Jane immediately lunged toward Emma’s mouth, capturing the plump lips in a searing kiss. Maura took advantage of Emma’s exposed neck and kissed her way all along the exposed flesh, nibbling Emma’s ear lope when the moment presented. 

Jane’s left and dominant hand crawled up the small bit of exposed skin on Emma’s thigh to the apex between the blondes legs, finding the sweet, moist centre she was aiming for. 

With Jane’s dexterous fingers pumping in and out of her opening, Emma was panting into the brunettes mouth, breaking off the kiss in favour of actually breathing. 

Once Maura’s mouth had laid claim to Emma’s exposed neck, it then ran south, claiming Emma’s breasts after slipping the second strap off Emma’s shoulder with her teeth. Maura’s right hand then made its way to Emma’s apex, joining Janes. 

Maura swiped her index finger through Emma’s folds whilst Jane pumped away, gathering juices to make it easy to massage Emma’s clit with her finger. 

Emma was in heaven, enjoying her girlfriends attentions and ministrations, the two separate dominant hands doing what they do best, the two sets of mouths worshiping her upper body. 

All too quickly, Emma was reaching her peak, orgasming quickly, consecutively under expert hands, eyes slamming shut. 

Catching her breath, Emma opened her eyes, and promptly lost her breath again - Jane and Maura had the others juice covered digits in their mouths, cleaning off the essence that was Emma, both with their own eyes squeezed shut.

Deciding she wanted to fuck her girls together after not being able to for so long, Emma moved to stand up, grabbing a now clean hand each and leading the women to their king sized bed. 

With Maura and Jane laying down, Emma crawled over them both, a knee between each of their legs. Emma ran her hands over her lovers bodies, encouraging Jane and Maura to start kissing each other whilst her own hands roamed their bodies for a bit longer, squeezing breasts and caressing satin covered hips. 

Having her fill of touching her girls over the slips, Emma slipped a hand each under Jane and Maura’s slips, two fingers each swirling in moist folds, gathering slick juices. 

Not being ambidextrous, Emma had to concentrate on her left hands ministrations of Jane than she did with her right hand for Maura. 

Concentrating on her doubled actions, Emma slipped a third finger inside each girlfriend and steadily pumped away, curling her fingers upwards on the outward stroke. 

Gaining a rhythm, Emma could afford to loose concentration for a few moments and shifted forward, bending forward awkwardly but enough that she could suck Jane’s nipple through the slip into her mouth. 

Maura, seeing what Emma was trying to accomplish, helped by removing Jane’s breast from the slip, Jane in turn latched onto Maura’s closest breast. 

Though their movements were a bit uncoordinated, it didn’t take long for Jane and Maura to reach their own orgasms, both left panting whilst Emma looked smug. 

For the next hour, Jane, Maura and Emma took turns caressing and cajoling each other to orgasms, all revelling in the love shared in the room, in more ways than one just happy being in the same post code, let alone the same room.


	16. Breakfast and Fears

As a sliver of daylight broke through into the room, the brunette occupant of the king bed woke with a wide smile on her face, as she always did when she woke with two blondes in her arms. 

Deciding she would give Emma a proper wake-up for her first morning home, Jane snuck under the blanket cover her and her girlfriends, and rolled over to her left, crawling down Emma’s still naked body.

Arriving at her desired location, Jane got to work straight away, tongue laving against soft pink folds, nose bumping against an engorging clit. 

Jane let her right hand wander across Emma’s torso, seeking out pink nipples whilst her left gently stroked the inside of Emma’s thigh, up and down, in time with Jane’s tongue which continued its march up and down Emma’s folds. 

Smiling into her work as she heard a moan from above, Jane used two finger on her left hand to gather some of the wetness seeping from Emma to lubricate her fingers, preparing to enter the blonde.

Waking to a feeling she hasn’t woken to in so long, Emma smiled through another moan as two fingers were stretching her open and gently moving back and forth inside her. Emma opened her eyes and saw Maura watching her with arousal in her eyes, both enjoying the effects of Jane’s early morning activities. 

Maura rolled across the bed and smother her lips onto Emma’s own, doing above what Jane was repeating below, happy with the knowledge both of her girlfriends were awake. 

Letting out a long loud moan as she reached climax, Emma used the fingers perusing Jane’s hair to pull the brunette up and out of the covers. 

“Good morning,” Jane said to her lovers with a grin on her face. 

“Good morning,” they echoed back, identical smiles adorning their faces. 

It took another half hour for the trio to make their way from the bed to bathroom, preparing to make themselves presentable to the world.

They had decided to go out for breakfast to celebrate Emma’s return, and knew that because the Rizzoli matriarch would normally cook them breakfast, they would have/get to take her with them.

Whilst Maura and Emma didn’t mind much having their mother-in-law with them, Jane always pretend grumbled, despite the fact she loved her mother very much. 

The group of four ladies climbed into Maura’s Lexus and Jane drove them to their normal cafe for breakfast.

Sitting at the table, Angela tried to refrain from pressing Emma for more details than the blonde was willing to share but still pressing enough to satisfy her curiosity.

Luckily for Angela, Emma was happy to share some details of her time in Storybrooke with her mother-in-law, “Henry is a great kid Angela, he’s smart, funny, sarcastic. I’m sure he and Jane are going to get along great whilst she’s there.”

Jane had just returned to the table from placing their orders, just catching the last sentence, “What am I doing?” she asked, trying to figure out why her name had been dropped. 

“Ems was just saying that you’ll get along with her son,” Angela answered. 

“He’s not my son, Angela, he belongs to Regina, she is his mother,” Emma answered without emotion, correcting the matriarch. 

“Nonsense, you birthed the boy, he is every bit your son as much as he is this Regina lady’s,” Angela spoke passionately. 

“Ma!” Jane scolded, “Stop, what Emma says with Henry, goes, okay?”

“Okay,” Angela backed down, apologising to Emma. 

“It’s okay, Angela, I get what you’re saying but he’s really not my kid. Regina is his mother, just like she likes to remind me.”

“Is she okay with you now?” Maura asked, curious if Henry’s adoptive mother is more receptive to Emma now that the blonde has been around Henry for a bit longer. 

“Nah, not really. I’m trying to do what’s best for the kid at the moment and Regina doesn’t want me around him for a while, so I guess coming here was just good timing.”

“What’s Regina’s problem now?” Jane queried, aware of some of the issues between the Sheriff and the Mayor.

“There’s this news paper reporter in town, Sydney, he wanted to help try and catch the Mayor doing some dodgy business but in the end, we were the ones who lost the moral high ground getting into her office under the guise of being the Sheriff, it wasn’t my most honest moment but I thought I was trying to do the right thing in the end, but the end can’t justify the means, so I’m staying away from Henry for a few days.”

“I’m sure you’ll be back together with Henry in no time,” Angela said, “in the meantime, do you have any picture of him, I haven’t seen any yet?”

Emma opened up her phone and showed the others a few picture she has of Henry and her together, and a few of Henry on his own. There were a few photos of Henry and Emma in Granny’s with Ruby and Mary Margaret, and some photos of Henry at his castle before it got damaged in the recent storm. 

As their breakfast was finished, the group of women headed home for a quiet afternoon at the house before their long drive the next day. Emma helped Jane pack, as always, the detective leaving it to nearly the last minute to pack her suitcase. 

Laying in bed that night, Emma confided her fears about being more of a presence in Henry’s life to her girlfriends, happy to finally be able to talk about her fears in person. 

“Darling, it’s normal to be worried about parenting a child,” Maura started before using her Google mouth to rattle off statistic and quotes about child rearing. 

Jane on the other hand took a more abrupt approached to soothing Emma’s fears, “You’re gunna be great for Henry in whatever capacity you choose, tell your fears to fuck off, they don’t own you.”

“If only it were that easy,” Emma chuckled after Jane’s impassioned sentence. 

“When we get to Storybrooke, Maura and I will meet with the kid and we can help you, what else are we here for otherwise?”

“I can think of something,” Maura whispered, rolling over onto Emma, claiming the other blondes lips as a way of ending the conversation and moving onto less family friendly activities whilst they still had the use of a larger king size bed. 

“Mmhm, yes, good call,” Jane agreed, shimmying down Emma’s body taking care of her lower half whilst Maura dominated the top.

Lost in the joy of her girlfriends mouths, Emma decided to put her worries and fears aside for now, they were tomorrow Emma’s problem.


	17. A Family Chat

Waking up for the second time in two days wrapped in her girlfriends arms was pure heaven for Emma, who had been longing for her girls’ touches ever since she left for Storybrooke. 

Crawling out of the bed leaving a sleeping doctor and detective, Emma went through her normal morning routine before going downstairs to start breakfast, knowing Angela would probably be coming through the back door in a few minutes. 

Enjoying the silence of the kitchen whilst she had it, Emma tried to imagine Regina’s reaction to seeing two new people in town if the way she greeted Emma was measure of the Mayors hospitality. 

Emma could just see Jane and Regina arguing with each other, going toe for toe in a battle of sarcasm and wit. Honestly, Emma didn’t know who would win that battle, but it sure would be sexy to watch. 

Shaking her head of such thoughts, Emma turned the gas stove top on as Angela came through the door as expected. 

“Good morning Emma,” the matriarch greeting, hugging Emma on her way past the blonde. 

“Good morning Angela,” Emma returned, “I was thinking of making Eggs Benedict for breakfast if you can help me with it, you know what I’m like with cooking. We can add a small green salad, keeping both Jane and Maura happy.”

“Keeping both of us happy with what?” Jane asked, yawning as she walked down the stairs, Maura right behind her.

“Emma and I are going make breakfast for you, it’s a surprise. If you and Maura want to help, go and set the table then make coffee,” Angela instructed. 

“How ‘bout I make coffee then set the table,” Jane teased. 

“I don’t care, just get it done,” Angela smiled right back at the wolfish grin on Jane’s face. 

“Don’t worry Mom,” Maura called, “I’ll take care of the table,” she offered whilst moving past a still Jane to get the cutlery for the table. 

It didn’t take long for four breakfast plates and four cups of coffee to be placed on the table, and four women to sit down to eat. 

“When are you three heading up to Maine?” Angela asked.

“I think we should go once we’ve cleaned up here, I would like to be off that road by dark,” Maura replied. 

“Especially if there are wolves on the road,” Jane said pointedly to Emma, remembering the time Emma was involved in a crash because of a wolf. 

“Hey!” Emma pretended to be affronted, “That was one time!”

“I know darling,” Jane whispered, wrapping her arm around Emma’s shoulders and pressing a kiss to the side of the blondes head.

“Don’t worry about cleaning this up, I’ll fix it,” Angela offered, wanting to make sure her girls were off the road in a reasonable time. 

“Are you sure?” Jane asked her mother.

“Certainly am,” she smiled, “I love looking after my children, additions included of course,” Angela extended her smile to Maura and Emma.

Just as they group were finishing their dinners, a knock at Maura’s front door gets their attention. 

Getting up to open the door, Jane gets pushed aside by a five-year-old TJ yelling, “Emmy! Emmy! Emmy!”

The woman in question immediately gets out from behind the table and kneels down ready to received the running child into her open arms. For some reason, toddler TJ took an instant liking to the new blonde woman in the family, even though he normally wasn’t good with strangers. Ever since, ‘Emmy’ has been his favourite Aunt to visit.

“Hey Little Buddy! I missed you!” Emma squealed back at him, matching his excitement, “You’ve grown so much!”

“I gru dis much bigga Emmy,” TJ answered seriously, holding his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart.

“I can tell, you’ll be taller than me in no time Little Buddy,” Emma smiled, standing up to greet Tommy and Frankie, Frank, as he has taken to being called. 

“We missed you Em,” Frank mentioned as he hugged his sister-in-law.

“Yeah, don’t go away for so long again,” Tommy requested.

“Sorry Tommy, didn’t Jane tell you I’m moving to Maine for a little while?” Emma asked. 

“Um, no, Jane?” Tommy asked accusingly, facing his sister.

Said sister in turn replied, “I didn’t know how much you wanted me to tell the guys, I hadn’t said anything other than you’re visiting Maine for personal reasons.”

Nodding, Emma knelt back down to TJ, “Hey Little Buddy, do you think you could go to your play room for a little while whilst I speak to your dad? I promise I’ll come through in five minutes to come play. Do you know how many that is?”

Holding up five fingers proudly, TJ said, “Silly Emmy, I can count!” TJ grinned before running up to one of the spare rooms on the second level of the house that held TJ’s toys and a small bed for whenever he had sleepovers at Aunties house whenever his pop had to work the night shift.

With TJ out of the room, Emma led the two Rizzoli men to the couch to sit whilst she spoke. 

“I’m not going to say too much but all you guys need to know is that ten years ago, I gave birth to a baby boy that I immediately put up for adoption. I was in no fit state to be a mother, certainly considering the fact I had the baby whilst I was in juvie. That baby boy is named Henry, he came and found me six weeks ago and I’ve been in Maine with him ever since. I didn’t tell you guys because I don’t tell people full stop. Jane and Maura knew, obviously but their lips are sealed. As will yours be,” Emma looked pointedly at the blokes, taking in their pitying looks. 

That was why she didn’t tell people about the baby. One, it wasn’t their business, two, she couldn’t stand to see the looks on the faces of Frank and Tommy, they reminded her of the looks the nurses gave her when she was being stitched up after giving birth. The nurses faces clearly read that going through the trauma of child birth only to immediately hand over the baby without even a hug was, in their minds, not worth it. 

Emma knew otherwise. She knew she would not have been able to care for Henry the way Regina obviously cared for him, albeit in her own special way. Emma couldn’t blame the nurses for their thoughts, it would be what a lot of people think, but Emma didn’t care what other people think, she never had done. She knew in her heart she made the right call for her baby, to give him his best chance.

The boys both promised Emma they would not breathe a word of what she had shared with them, and wished her luck wth being with Henry for the foreseeable future after she also explained her move there for now. 

Frank and Tommy stayed for a cup of coffee after Emma went up to play with TJ after five minutes like she promised. She bought him back down so he could spend time with Jane and Maura too whilst they were there. 

Jane loved spending time with her nephew, TJ reminded her of Tommy when he was five, and she never got tired of reminding Tommy of that. Jane also took great joy in filling the little boy with heaps of sugary treats before returning him to his father to enjoy the sugar crash that would quickly follow the high she returned him on. Just her sisterly way of saying “love ya little brother”.

When Maura suggested the ladies get on the road, TJ, Tommy and Frank said their goodbyes, TJ crying his eyes out because he was sad Emmy was leaving. It took Angela promising TJ he could stay with her for the afternoon to get him to stop crying so the ladies could leave guilt free. 

With Emma driving the the bug and Maura as her passenger, it was left for Jane to drive the Lexus, agreeing to stopping halfway and switching with Maura so she too could enjoy some one on one time with Emma before they got to Storybrooke.

Backing out of the driveway, they waved good-bye to the boys and Angela, who was trying to get a sniffling TJ to wave his hand to his Aunts in farewell.

On the road they then were, making their way to a little town that was a little different.


	18. A Long Drive

It took over half and hour for the yellow bug and black Lexus to make their ways out of Boston but once they were on the highway, it was smooth driving the whole way to their halfway point of Portland, Maine, before they would continue up the coast to Storybrooke. 

Whilst Maura was with Emma in the bug, Jane was driving the Lexus solo, a perfect opportunity to blare her music loudly and sing badly and off key, without anyone commenting on her terrible singing. 

Watching and laughing at Jane’s singing in the rear view mirror behind them, Maura and Emma were entertaining each other on the drive and catching up. 

“What else have I missed whilst I’ve been away? I see you cut your hair shorter,” Emma asked, complimenting Maura’s new hair cut that was by now two weeks old. 

“Not a lot, Jane’s been busy at work, I’ve been busy too in the morgue. Jane and Barry were going out to arrest a suspect a few weeks ago and were gone for a few hours. When they got back, Jane trudged down to my office, smelling like trash and proceeded to try and hug me. I growled at her and asked what happened, their suspect decided it would be a good idea to avoid capture by running through a rubbish dump and hiding in the piles of trash.”

“Did they get him?” Emma asked, loving stories about Jane at work.

“Her, and yes, Jane heard a rustling in one of the piles and she tried to get Barry to go digging. He refused so they settled it by playing scissors, paper, rock. Jane lost and went tip diving. They got a successful arrest out of it so it was worth it in the end.”

“Did she stay smelling like trash the whole day?”

“No, I made her go and use the shower in the back of my office and I went up to her locker to get her spare clothes. I’m sorry we forgot to tell you about that, it was funny,” Maura apologised. 

“Tell me about Henry?” Maura asked Emma after a while of silence. 

“He’s a good kid but he doesn’t understand that I can’t just take him away from his mom because he wishes it, so that makes things hard. I know no judge would ever give me my parental rights back, I gave them up when he was born for a reason. I was in no fit state to care for him, I had no one, no anything. I’m not stupid enough to hope that I might one day be legally his parent. I know that’ll never happen. Not with his real mother hating on me like she is,” Emma commented. 

Maura wanted to be sad for Emma, hearing what she had just said was sad. But Maura has to agree as well with what Emma said about not getting it having any parental rights with the boy. The only way that would happen would be for Regina to agree and help, and that didn’t look likely at the moment. 

“At least she is letting you see him, kind of,” Maura tried to make her girlfriend feel better. 

Smiling at her attempt, Emma replied, “I am grateful for that, I know Regina can be a bitch sometimes but I think she’s realised that I just want what’s best for Henry. I know that’s not me but I am grateful to have any part in his life that she allows. I know realistically that any judge would grant her a restraining order against me if she wanted. That’s why I have to work hard to stay on side with her, even though we both make it hard most days.”

“At least you’re looking at the situation logically and with understanding,” Maura answered. 

“Mm,” Emma returned, staying quiet for a moment before saying, “I need you to look that way with Henry when you meet him, if Regina lets him meet you guys.”

“What do you mean, dear?”

“Well, his attachment and belief in his storybook. He believes it’s real, he believes I am a saviour that is going to break the Evil Queens, Regina’s, curse and free the town of her oppression. That’s a lot for a kid to believe and a lot of pressure to try and deal with without alienating the kid about how fairy tales aren’t real,” Emma tried explaining, “I know you’ll want to point out how his book is just stories, fairy tales. But I need you to just placate him, and go along with it, even if you don’t believe it. Please?” 

“Like how we tell TJ Santa Clause is real?” Maura laughed. 

Grinning, Emma returned, “Exactly like that.”

“Except you’re Santa this time. Santa the Saviour?”

Grin still in place, Emma lifted Maura’s hand to her lips to kiss the doctors knuckles, “Precisely.”

The pair continued discussing Henry’s inclinations until they reached a diner in Portland, Maine for lunch. 

The diner was cool inside, Emma ended up giving Maura her red leather jacket to wear as she was cold. Maura also stole Emma’s beanie she was that cold in the diner. 

After lunch, Maura kept Emma’s clothes and climbed into the Lexus to drive the rest of the way. She had to move the drivers seat a lot closer to the steering wheel to be able to reach the pedals. Damn tall girlfriends. 

With Maura following behind, Jane sat down in the passengers seat of Emma’s bug, giving the blonde clear instructions to let her know if she is too tired to continue driving. 

As they continued up the highway, Jane asked Emma to tell her about Regina, mother to Henry, Mayor to the town. 

“Her personality is really hot and cold, one day she’ll seem okay with me and the next she absolutely hates me. Sometimes she doesn’t have a problem with me seeing Henry, some days she doesn’t want me anywhere near him. I don’t get it. If I could get to some even playing field that would be okay and I could learn to live with it but the up and down is really hard to get a grip on sometimes.”

The detective side of Jane showed for a moment, “How about how she treats Henry? Do you think she’s not good for him?”

“She has given him everything I could have hoped my baby would have been given. She is the exact parent I wanted my baby to go to when I made the decision to adopt him out. I don’t think she’s bad for him at all, just a bit of a control freak, helicopter parent sort of thing.”

“That’s good. Tell me more about her?”

“What do you want to know?”

“You mentioned she was beautiful, tell me about that,” Jane queried. 

Emma saw right through the ‘innocent’ question, “Are you really jealous baby?”

Pretending to not be exactly that, Jane rebuked, “I’m not jealous, just cautious. If my girlfriend is spending time, albeit not happy time but time none the less, I just want to know a bit about the woman she’s spending time with.”

“Jane, darl, relax. Yes, Regina is stunning to look at, and yes, I suppose she did look like she was going to kiss me one day when I saved Henry from down the mine shaft, but you have nothing to worry about. Regina is too busy hating me to make a move on me, and I am more than satisfied and happy in my relationship with you and Maura to try and pursue other women. If you want to know what she looks like, you can meet her yourself later. I’m sure she is going to make an appearance as soon as she realises there are new people in town.”

“Possessiveness, never a good trait,” Jane mumbled. 

“And what are you being right now?” Emma laughed, causing Jane to turn away from her to hide her smirk. 

Emma carried on driving for a while, and just after 2:00pm, driving down a forrest road, a sign came in view. 

Jane kept her eye on the wooden sign with its stone base, reading the words repetitively, ‘Welcome to Storybrooke’. 

Going past the sign, Emma glanced in her rear view mirror to see Maura follow her past the sign in the black Lexus. 

Emma led Maura out of the forrest and through the town. Looking out the window at the buildings they passed, Jane saw the town was concentrated and only covered a small area whilst the surrounding forrest area appeared endless. Jane enjoyed watching her new surroundings, taking note of businesses in the Main Street that she wants to go back and look at over her time in the town.

Stares followed the pair of cars as they made their way through the town and to the front of Granny’s Bed and Breakfast. Jane was eyeballing onlookers right back, not that they would have been able to tell, curtesy of Jane’s reflective sunglasses. 

Stepping out of her yellow bug and stretching, Emma turned to her girlfriends and said, “Welcome to Storybrooke.


	19. The Detective Meets the Mayor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Made my Friday deadline by three minutes, winning.

Getting out of the Lexus, Maura handed Emma her jacket and beanie back, it wasn’t freezing cold in Storybrooke like the diner was. 

“Thanks baby,” Emma smiled helping Jane grab their luggage from the boot of Maura’s car and leading them inside Granny’s Bed and Breakfast. 

Jane and Maura looked around at their surroundings whilst walking behind Emma into the cute little establishment, liking what they’ve seen of the town so far. 

Inside, they found a leggy brunette with red streaks manning the front desk, waiting to check the strangers in. As Emma wasn’t technically staying in the room, only ‘visiting’ guests, she was permitted to remain with her girlfriends until they left. Emma of course slipped in the cost of a third person in the room as a tip, so as to still pay for her use of the room for the two weeks Jane and Maura would be staying. 

Ruby gave the women their room key with a square view, waving the upgrade fee as Granny had done for Emma months earlier. 

Getting into the privacy of their room, Jane commented to Emma that though the town seemed nice to look at, it was a bit peculiar. 

“Wait ‘til you meet the residents,” Emma stated, voicing her desire for a nap. 

“That sounds like a good idea, darling,” Maura agrees, slipping off her shoes and clothes, opting to sleep in her underwear with Emma in the queen sized bed. 

“I’ll just quietly unpack a few things and have a look around,” Jane said, not sleepy from driving for the last few hours, unlike her girls. 

Making quick work of unpacking a few things, Jane glanced at her watch and saw it was nearly 3:00pm. 

She decided she would put her curiosity to rest. 

Walking downstairs to the check in desk, Jane noted the person manning the desk had morphed from the young brunette to an older grey haired woman with a kindly face. 

“Excuse me,” Jane starts politely, “I was wondering if you could give me directions to City Hall?”

Raising her eyebrows slightly, Granny corrected her in saying ‘Town Hall’ and gives the needed directions and wishes Jane good luck on ‘whatever business you have there’.

Seeing as though it was a lovely day and just a five minute walk, Jane set off on her own down Main Street, heading towards the object of her curiosity. 

Arriving at Town Hall, Jane looked up at the large yellow and white building that had no left over indications of the fire inside its walls less than three months ago. 

Jane walked inside and followed the directional arrows for the mayors office. She saw there was a desk at the end of the hallway on the top floor in front of the doors to the mayors office, guarded by the mayors secretary. 

As she approached the secretary, Jane observed the plaque indicating the woman’s name was Louise. 

Flashing her badge she carried with her everywhere, Jane politely asked, “Is the Mayor inside?”

Confused as to why a strange police officer was asking, Louise replied, “Yes officer, she is.”

“Is she free?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you,” Jane responded and walked past the secretary’s desk to knock on the large wooden double doors herself. 

She heard a luxurious voice call out ‘Enter’ and pushed through the heavy doors and entered the large office, gaining her first glance at the Mayor of Storybrooke. 

Jane saw that she was indeed as beautiful as Emma alluded to, and could see her taste in furniture and clothing was equally exquisite. 

In turn, the Mayor got her first glance of a new stranger in her town, a very tall, very good looking stranger. Confused, Regina immediately asked, “Who are you?”

“Allow me to introduce myself, Madame Mayor,” Jane picked up the moniker used by her girlfriend, “I am Detective Jane Rizzoli, Boston Homicide,” Jane used her full title, just because she could. 

Eyes narrowing at the woman walking towards her desk as she remained seated, Regina continued, “Boston Homicide? Is there an active homicide investigation concerning my quiet little town, Detective?”

“No, Madame Mayor,” Jane replied taking a seat, uninvited, before the mayoral desk, “I just wanted to introduce myself as I believe we will be coming across each other a little bit in the future.”

“And why would that be?” Regina asked in her best ‘Mayor voice’. 

“Sheriff Swan,” Jane simply stated. 

Putting two and two together, Regina probed, “I take it you are the Sheriffs girlfriend, Detective?”

“I am.”

“Did she bring you to my town?” Regina asked, concerned for the integrity of her protection spell if strangers kept being able to make their way inside the towns barriers. 

Smiling, Jane answered, “She did, along with our girlfriend Doctor Maura Isles.”

“Yes, I have heard of the Sheriff having two girlfriends,” Regina commented, not meaning anything by it. 

Instantly though, Jane was on the defensive, “Do you have a problem with that, Madame Mayor?” Jane asked, not knowing she was echoing a question already directly asked of the Mayor. 

Again, the mayor replied that she didn’t have a problem with it. 

“Alright, well then, Madame Mayor, Regina, if you will,”

“I will not.”

“Okay, Madame Mayor then,” Jane continued, not at all perturbed by Regina’s abrupt correction, “I wanted to let you know Maura and I will be in Storybrooke for two weeks. During this time, if you are amenable, we would like to meet Henry, for Emma’s sake. She has told us so much about that special little boy.”

Perceiving the detectives use of the word ‘special’ as a euphemism for ‘special needs’, Regina was immediately angry at the stranger trying to take up more time with her son, “Henry is MY son, and he is not ‘special’ as you say, he is just adjusting and growing up. He doesn’t need strangers coming in to his life to tell him he is different.”

Realising the other woman misinterpreted her words, Jane apologised, “I did not mean any offence, and I did not mean to imply Henry has special needs, I only meant it to say that Henry is exceptional, from everything Emma mentioned. I apologise that it was taken the wrong way,” Jane placated the defensive mother. 

Regina was not dumb, she knew that as soon as Henry found out Emma was back in town, with her two girlfriends in tow, he would make every effort to sneak around to see them. The only way Regina would be able to control the interaction, was for her to organise a meeting under her own terms. Understanding this was better to be done sooner rather than later, Regina decided to put differences aside for an evening and invite the group for dinner, minus the poison she was wont to use. 

“If the Sheriff insists on you meeting my son, then you will come over for dinner at my house tonight, 7:00pm, don’t be late,” Regina commanded. 

Slightly shocked at being given even a hostile invitation, but an invitation none the less, Jane agreed on behalf of the three women. 

Sensing she was being dismissed from the Mayors presence, Jane couldn’t help but throw one slight jab at the Mayor as her parting sentence, “Thank you for the invite, we will see you at 7 o’clock sharp, but for now, I have two girlfriends waiting in my room to partake in all manner of salacious activities. Good day Regina,” Jane left before the the blushing Mayor could find her words to respond. 

Walking back to the Bed and Breakfast, Jane felt quite pleased with herself, believing she gained the upper hand in her first meeting with the Mayor. Jane wasn’t sure why she wanted the upper hand, other than her own jealousy, but she would take the win where she saw fit. 

Getting back to her room however, she was not going to be feeling like a winner for very long.

“YOU DID WHAT?!” Emma screeched when Jane told her of her impromptu meeting, “Now she’s going to ban Henry from seeing me for a lot longer now, thanks Jane,” Emma sulked. 

“Emma,” Jane tried to explain, “no, she won’t, she invited us to dinner tonight so Maura and I can meet Henry, she isn’t going to stop him from seeing you. I only introduced myself to her.”

“Yes, in a very obnoxious way,” Maura added, earning a glare from Jane and a smirk from Emma. 

“Well, how bad can it be?” Jane worriedly asked then, concerned that maybe she had taken it too far with her last comment (which she wasn’t going to mention to her girlfriends now). 

With a shake of her head, Emma dejectedly commented, “We’ll wait and see.”


	20. Damage Control

Watching the tall Detective walk out of her office, Regina release a huff of breath before quickly rising to her high heeled feet and going to the window behind her desk. 

The Mayor watched as she waited for the other brunette to exit the building, it took a few moments but soon enough, Jane Rizzoli’s assured footsteps made their way out of Town Hall. Regina continued watching as the object of her stare made her way back along the street and out of sight, never knowing she was being watched from above. 

As soon as she was able to pack everything on her desk away for the day, Regina grabbed her handbag and left her office, locking it securely behind her. 

“I’m leaving Louise, finish everything you need to and go home early after you’ve cancelled my four o’clock meeting with the Water Board,” Regina instructed as she walked past. 

Shocked at seeing the Mayor leaving early, and giving her an early mark in the process, it was all Louise could do to answer a stammering, “Of course, Madame Mayor, good bye.”

Regina hammered on the down button of the elevator, silently demanding it arrive at her floor quicker. When it finally did arrive, Regina descended alone to the ground floor and marched out of City Hall, straight to her Mercedes Benz. 

As quickly as the older car would allow, Regina gunned the engine and had the car roaring towards the invisible town line. It took only ten minutes to get to where she wanted to be, and once there, Regina climbed out of the drivers seat and marched up to the barrier she erected 28 years and five months ago. 

Walking to where she knew the line to be, Regina held up her right hand in front of her, as if gesturing for the barrier to stop. Walking forwards, Regina felt the familiar, and comforting, feel of magic wash over her. 

Though there was no fresh usable magic in Storybrooke now, it was still magically protected, as Regina had worked into the curse when she cast it. 

Taking another three steps forward, Regina felt the curtain of magic billow to allow her to pass through to the other side. 

The last time Regina remembered being on the other side of the barrier, she was taking Henry back to the adoption agency for what turned out to be just a car ride. 

Sure, Regina had occasionally left the town before she collected Henry, but after bringing her precious bundle of joy home, she entrusted no one to look after him as well as she could. 

Looking back at the barrier from the other side, Regina could see the faintest of glimmer belonging to the protection spell, because she knew to look for it. Otherwise, the other side just looked like endless forrest. 

Satisfied the barrier was indeed functioning as it should, Regina then had to ponder why the protection spell would allow three strangers to enter her town. 

As Regina crossed the town line again, she glanced down at the expensive watch adorning her wrist. She had another hour before she had to collect Henry from Archie’s office and go home to prepare for her impromptu dinner guests. 

The mayor decided to take a trip down to her vault, to peruse her collection of magical books to try and figure out what power these strangers had over her very powerful protection spell. 

If there was something could explain the reasonings, she was sure it would be contained in her vaults library. 

In no time at all, Regina was again climbing out of her car, this time at the cemetery. Walking across the grass in the afternoon sun, Regina enjoyed the brief heat and sunshine of her face after being inside in her office all day. 

Unlocking the Mills crypt, Regina paid her respects to her father before closing the crypt door to push her fathers tomb across the floor, allowing her access down stairs to her sanctuary. 

Regina breathed through the musty air for a few moments, adjusting to the air quality down in the vault. One more bit of magic left over from the Enchanted Forrest was a preservation spell on everything down in this vault. Somehow that spell included the air from the Forrest. 

Sometimes Regina was comforted by the smells she grew up with, other times, all she wanted to do was exhaust the air inside and ventilate in new, fresh air. 

Today, the air was more of a comfort than a distraction. Regina walked through the rooms to the rear of the vault in to the library. Looking upon the entire wall bookshelf, it took Regina a moment to pull down the appropriate book on protection spells. 

Sitting in a comfortable winged back chair, Regina opened the book and flipped to the section on large concealment charms, trying to find the specific magic element used in the curse. 

Finding the page she was after, Regina pulled out her phone to set a timer for forty minutes, giving her plenty of time to read what needed to be read but still enough time to get to Archie’s office to collect Henry after his appointment. 

It was a good thing Regina had set a timer as, when it chimed, she was still immersed in the spell book. She had gathered enough information to know that Emma was permitted into Storybrooke because Henry had brought her in, who had been brought in by Regina herself. In turn, this allowed Emma to bring her girlfriends in, though Regina wasn’t sure how because there were two cars driven into Storybrooke, the Bug and a Lexus. Regina figured there must have been something of Emma’s in the Lexus to allow it in, if she herself was driving her yellow death trap. 

Putting the book back on the shelf as she shut off her alarm, the Mayor made her way topside again, speaking as she left the crypt, “Goodbye Daddy, I love you.”

Regina drove the short distance from the cemetery to the doctors office, trying to ignore the fact her son would be more excited to see the blonde woman and the new people in town than he would be to actually spend time with her, his mother. 

Regina couldn’t help the small smile on her face that seeing Henry brings however the smile was quickly lost as the ten year old threw his backpack into the back seat and clipped in his seatbelt, all without saying anything to Regina. 

“Henry,” she started, “I know you think it’s my fault Emma left town-"

“It is your fault,” Henry muttered under his breath, but not quietly enough for Regina to miss it. 

“What was that, young man?” 

“Nothing. What were you saying?” he sullenly replied. 

“I was saying, I know you think it is my fault Emma left but she has returned.”

Regina tried not to let her heartache show as Henry’s face lit up and his entire body language changed at the mention of Emma Swan. Quickly, she masked her pain and continued.

“Miss Swan returned today, and brought with her her two girlfriends.”

“Jane and Maura are here too?” Henry asked excitedly, “Can I meet them, please Mom?”

Once more, Regina worked to mask her pain, this time at Henry calling her ‘Mom’ for the first time in weeks, and only because he wants something. 

“Yes, dear. They will be coming over for dinner tonight, so as soon as we get home, I want you to clean your room spotless and take a shower before dinner,” Regina tried to at least get some chores done, even though his ‘reward’ for doing them is inevitable. 

Henry was barely controlling himself from jumping up and down in his seat, he was that excited, “I will, I promise, thanks Mom!”

For the first time in a long time, Regina did not have to fight Henry to clean his room or take a shower, it made her sad that it was only the excitement of being around people that were not her was making Henry this agreeable. 

She didn’t have time to ponder though because she still had to cook dinner for five, and it was already six o’clock. 

No pressure.


	21. Dinner Arrangements

“Jane! You can’t wear that!” Emma cried, eyeing the garment Jane wore. 

With a sly smile, the woman in question asked, “Why? It’s my favourite shirt.”

With a shake of her head and a smile of her own, Maura replied, “A shirt that reads ‘My girlfriends went to a sex shop and all I got was this lousy T-shirt’ is not appropriate to wear in the company of a minor, Henry will be at dinner.”

With a fake exasperated sigh, Jane took off her favourite house loungewear and replaced it with her good Red Sox jersey Emma bought her for her birthday with ‘Rizzoli 50’ on the rear. 

“Better,” Emma commented, “thank you darling.”

“You’re welcome,” Jane answered with an exaggerated bow, grabbing the Lexus keys and putting them in her pocket. 

Jane watched as Maura gave her outfit a once over, looking for any lint or dust. The doctor was dressed in a black and white floral print skirt and black sleeveless top, and was unable to locate any marks on her clothes. 

Emma meanwhile was wearing her blue leather jacket with a white button up top and skin tight black jeans, paired with her black knee high boots. 

Confirming the three women were appropriately dressed, they walked out of the BnB and climbed into the Lexus. Emma gave directions from her spot in the backseat to get them to the mayoral mansion. 

Soon enough, Maura and Jane received their first glimpse of the large manor house but weren’t given long to admire the building from the car as Emma immediately climbed out to start walking along the footpath to the front door, having seen a silhouette in the window of which she knew to be Henry’s bedroom. 

Approaching the front door, the three women heard from inside, a voice call out ‘No running in the house’, before the front flew open and a small pale boy came barrelling through it, throwing himself into Emma’s arms, completely ignoring the two other women with her. 

“Hey kid, I missed you.”

“I missed you too, Emma.”

The doctor and the detective easily saw in that moment how much Emma cared for the boy, and how much he adored her in return. 

Breaking away from Emma, Henry took a step back and surveyed the other guests. 

Stepping to the left where Jane was standing, Henry stuck his right hand out to shake the brunettes hand, saying, “You must be Jane. I’m Henry.”

“Hi Kiddo, yeah, I’m Jane, how are you?” she asked, taken with the boys formality. 

“I’m okay,” was his simple reply before moving on to repeat his introduction to Maura.

Once introduced to Henry, the party moved in doors, towards the smell of the kitchen. 

Regina met the group half way, after having done the same lint check to her tight purple dress Maura did in the kitchen. 

Regina eyed the group, subtly nodding her head in greeting to Emma before basically ignoring her. 

“Hello again, Detective,” Regina started politely. 

“Madame Mayor,” Jane greeted with a slight nod of her head, “allow me to introduce to you Doctor Maura Isles, our girlfriend,” Jane made the introduction as Maura stepped forward to greet the hostess. 

Maura’s initial thought about the imposing Mayor was the same as her two girlfriends, this woman was beautiful. 

Maura politely greeted her hostess and complimented her on a lovely home. 

“Thank you,” Regina replied, gesturing for the trio to come with her to the kitchen for drinks. 

Henry however grasped Emma’s hand and dragged her away from the group to talk to her upstairs in his room. 

Following the boy, Emma listened as he chatted excitedly about the things he’d done whilst she was away. When they got to the safety of his bedroom, Henry started on his real agenda for the evening. 

“You’re so smart Emma, bringing help to defeat the Evil Queen, how are they gunna help you?!”

Holding back an exasperated sigh, Emma answered, “Kid, firstly, your Mom isn’t ‘Evil’, she’s your Mom. Secondly, I didn’t bring Maura and Jane here to help with anything. I missed my girlfriends and they came for a holiday. If we happen to cross paths with your Mom whilst we are here, that’s just a coincidence.”

Frowning, Henry continued, “So it wasn’t Jane’s plan to get invited to dinner tonight to get insider information on the enemy?”

“Henry, talking like that is not helping my case to see you okay? And no, Jane was being pig headed when she went to Regina’s office this afternoon and wrangled herself an invitation to dinner, which we should be getting back to, come on,” Emma gestured for Henry to go with her back down stairs. 

Entering the kitchen, Emma saw Regina and Maura in conversation whilst Jane was standing back surveying the pair. 

“What did we miss?” Emma asked walking over to Jane to slip an arm around her waist. 

“Nothing much, just chatting. Did you know Regina and Maura have something in common?” Jane queried. 

“No, what?”

“They both love horses and ride.”

Indeed, Regina felt more comfortable talking to Maura than she did the two police officers, and so was able to invite more conversation with the doctor than she had the detective. 

Whilst Jane was sitting back watching the movement in the kitchen, Maura started talking to the Mayor about her own horse riding adventures, though not her college adventure, that was a relatively private story for those who knew her well. 

“I started riding when I was five,” Maura informed the Mayor as they waited the last five minutes for the lasagne to cook, “my parents wanted me to learn all manner of skills they believed was becoming of a lady. I enjoyed it and soon was learning all sorts of riding skills. I particularly enjoy bare back riding, I think it requires more skill and coordination between the rider and the mount.”

“My mother never wanted me riding bare backed, she said it made me ride like a man,” Regina input whilst dishing up the salad, unsure as to why she was being so open with this stranger about her younger years. 

“Are there stables in town?” Emma piped up. 

Regina threw her a withering stare before replying, “You are the sheriff in this town, Miss Swan, how do you not know there are stables out on Pine Valley Road?”

“Because I have never had to go out to Pine Valley Road, Madame Mayor. And for some reason, Google Maps doesn’t work here to show me the towns every road,” Emma replied curtly. 

Trying to change the subject to a less tense topic, Jane remarked, “Dinner smells lovely, Regina.”

“Lasagne is my specialty, it ought to smell good.”

A few minutes later found the odd group sitting at the formal dining table Regina had not had occasion to use in too long. 

The dinner itself went better than anyone in the group thought it would. Regina and Emma managed not to snark at each other for almost an hour, Jane enjoyed talking to Henry about anything under the sun, and Maura found herself enjoying the Mayors company and conversation. 

Going to bed that night, Regina could not explain why she felt comfortable with Maura but not Emma or Jane. She was sure though, she would find reason enough to engage Maura with further conversation away from her two girlfriends in the near future. 

Maybe then she could figure out why this unusual woman made her feel comfortable enough to talk openly.


	22. Working Jointly

When Jane and Maura woke with Emma in Storybrooke, they decided to go down into the diner for breakfast. Emma called her roommate so Mary Margaret could join them and meet her girlfriends.

Getting dressed, Jane heard a commotion out of the window and pulled back the curtain and saw two men squabbling over what looked to be a flower van. She called Emma to the window to see the commotion too. 

The only comment the Sheriff made was, “Mr Gold is at it again,” before going back to getting ready. 

Trooping down to the diner, Emma led Jane and Maura through the restaurant, seeing Mary Margaret talking to David at a table for two. 

“Hey David,” Emma greeted the man before gesturing for Mary Margaret to join her booth with Jane and Maura. 

Mary Margaret excitedly introduced herself to Emma’s girls before they ordered their breakfasts. 

Mary Margaret filled Emma in a little bit on Henry, not realising the other woman had already spent some time with the boy the night before, telling Emma how Henry missed her whilst she was away. 

As their breakfast was being delivered, a woman with a crying baby entered the dinner, and came over to the booth as well. 

It didn’t take long for Jane and Maura to get familiar with these town folk, Ashley and her baby, their waitress Ruby who checked them in the day before, and the waitress’s grandmother, Granny, who runs the diner and gave Jane directions yesterday. 

Before too long, the three other women organised to have a ‘girls night’ whilst Emma declined on behalf of her and her girlfriends, in favour of spending time together.

Whilst the group was chatting, Emma received a call from the station, requiring her to go to work. 

Jane decided to go with Emma whilst Maura took the Lexus for a drive around town.

Emma and Jane went into the sheriffs station for Emma to collect her gun, and to give Jane a spare one. Together, the girlfriends collected their job details and made their way to the house owned by Mr Gold. When they arrived, the front door was ajar. Emma and Jane set to work clearing the house that was ransacked. 

As Emma came around a corner, she came face to face with Mr Gold, doing his own clearing of the house. Jane came down the stairs to see Emma talking to the man she saw causing a disturbance in the street earlier that morning. 

Jane smiled as she came into the conversation, hearing Emma threaten to arrest the man for obstruction of justice. 

The older man noticed Jane coming up behind Emma and turned his attention to the stranger, surprised to see a new face in town.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my house?” he asked Jane who’d secured her own BPD badge to her belt with her borrowed gun.

“I’m Detective Jane Rizzoli, I was with Sheriff Swan when she received the job details, I attended to help her,” Jane held her hand out to greet the man as she spoke. 

“I didn’t know the Sheriffs Department stretched their budget to include a Detective on the books,” Mr Gold shook her hand once before dropping it. 

“They haven’t,” Emma cut in, “Jane is volunteering. Now, who would have done this?”

Gold filled the officers in on one Moe French, his suspect for the crime.

With details of a suspect, Jane and Emma left the house, trying to figure out Mr Golds curious choice of words as they left. 

The women went back to the Sheriffs station and, with their knowledge gained from Gold and their observations earlier that morning, they procured a search warrant for Moe French’s house to search for a list of things Gold said were stolen. 

By midday, Emma was able to ring Gold to come into the station to collect his possessions they’d found at the French residence. 

“Maybe I should speak to the Mayor about stretching the Sheriffs Department budget to accomodate you permanently, Detective Rizzoli,” Gold commented, surveying his belongings spread out before him, “and the man himself?”

“Closing in on him,” Emma said happily. 

“So, job well half done then,” Gold said, realising there was an item of singular importance missing.

“In less than a day, we got everything back. Is something wrong?”

"You recovered nothing, there’s something missing.”

“We will get it when we find him."

“Not if I find him first,” Gold muttered as he left the station.

“He is definitely the weirdest person I’ve met so far in this town,” Jane commented as the older man left the station. 

“He doesn’t seem to like not being in control of everything,” Emma replied. 

“Apparently not.”

Jane helped Emma for the rest of the afternoon try to track the missing Moe French. Soon after dark, the two police officers were patrolling the town trying to find the man when they drove past a building owned, of course, by Mr Gold. They observed the grey flower delivery van parked in the driveway and decided they would speak again to Gold to see if he had any further information to share with them. 

As Emma, driving for once, parked the Storybrooke Sheriffs patrol vehicle behind the grey van, she and Jane climbed out and walked up to the front. 

Immediately Jane knew something was very wrong. 

Sharing her thought with Emma, she said, “The front door is wide open Ems, and there’s an upturned table in the entrance way.”

Just as Emma was about to reply, she heard grunting and yelling coming from a back room. 

Following the calls of “It’s your fault!”, Emma found Gold beating Moe French with his cane, repeating the singular phrase. 

Emma grabbed Gold by the arm to stop him from bringing the cane on Moe’s head once more with Jane grabbing his other arm and pulling it behind his back.

The pair put the older man in handcuffs and walked him to the back of the police cruiser whilst they organised an ambulance for Moe. 

When the ambulance got to the house, Jane helped them whilst Emma went to the cruiser to speak with Gold. She didn’t get much, only confirmed Gold wasn’t going to cooperate with the police investigation and reaffirmed to him he was under arrest for his actions. 

When Jane was finalised with the ambulance and getting a version off Moe, she and Emma took Mr Gold back to the station to spend the night in the cell. 

The next morning, Jane brought Emma breakfast of a pastrami sandwich after the blonde had to remain at the station all night babysitting the prisoner. 

Whilst Jane was at the station talking to Emma, Regina came into the building with Henry, telling the two women they had half an hour with Henry, ignoring their questions as to why the Mayor wanted to be left with the prisoner. 

The pair took the boy back to Granny’s for a proper breakfast with Maura before Emma had to get back to the station.

Within the thirty minute deadline, Emma had Henry returned to the Mayor and returned to babysitting Mr Gold. Jane, not wanting Emma to be alone, decided to go with her, leaving Maura to be a happy sightseeing tourist for the second day running. 

As Henry gave Emma a hug goodbye, he turned to Jane, unsure of whether or not he should hug his birth mothers girlfriend as well. In the end, the boy decided to give the tall brunette detective a quick one armed hug before following the Mayor out of the station and to the car for the quick ride to school. 

In the station, Emma finalised the paperwork for Gold before he was able to be released from custody. Once completed, Emma took Jane to Mary Margarets apartments to collect a few belongings so she could go back to the BnB to have a much needed sleep, leaving Jane with the stations mobile to be on call to cover her for a few hours of much needed rest. 

Luckily, the town of Storybrooke was safe and secure for the few hours Emma was sleeping.


	23. A Relaxing Ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think people enjoyed the Maura/Regina interactions, so have a long chapter dedicated to that...

Whilst her girlfriends worked and slept, Maura took the Lexus for a drive around town, exploring the ocean front, the pier, some of the forrest and other sights in the town. 

Remembering the Mayors comment about a stable being on Pine Valley Road, Maura took a drive out to the stable.

Turning off into Pine Valley Road, Maura’s decided to take a tour of the stables, and enquire if it would be possible to ride a horse for a few hours. 

It had been way too long since Maura had been in the saddle. 

Following the sign posts for the Pine Valley Stables, Maura drove along the gravel driveway a hundred yards and stopped in front of a large building that could house up to fifteen horses. 

Maura walked inside the building and immediately was surrounded by the familiar scent of horses and hay. She walked through the stables and found a young woman cleaning one of the stalls on the far side of the building. 

“Excuse me,” Maura appealed for the woman’s attention, “who is in charge here?” 

The young red headed woman turned around and answered with a strong accent, “I am, can I help you?” 

“Yes, my name is Maura and I was wondering if it would be possible to hire a horse to ride for a an hour or two?”

Exiting the stall and walking to a desk at the stable entrance, the woman, Meredith, asked, “Can you ride?”

Smiling and nodding, Maura informed Meredith she could ride quite well. 

“Okay then, if you sign this waiver, and wear proper riding attire, you’re more than welcome to take your pick of horses along the far wall, or I could pick one for you. When were you wanting to ride?”

“Wonderful, could I ride this afternoon, say around three?” 

“Certainly,” Meredith nodded, telling Maura she could pick her horse upon her return. 

Before leaving, Maura filled in and signed all paperwork required, and paid the hire fee. 

Happy to have a plan for the afternoon, Maura drive back into town, right past the Mayors office. 

On a whim, Maura pulled into the parking lot and ascended the building to the mayors office. 

Maura waited about ten minutes before Louise was instructed to let the mayors visitor inside. 

“Good morning Regina,” Maura greeted, “thank you again for dinner, it was lovely.”

Smiling for once at an unexpected visitor, Regina replied, “Good morning, and you are more than welcome. What brings you by?”

“I remembered you said at dinner there were stables along Pine Valley Road. I went out there asking about hiring a horse and have booked in for a ride this afternoon at three. I know you are working but I though I would invite you to come with me. I remember you said you enjoyed riding.”

Taken aback by the thoughtfulness of a virtual stranger, Regina though quickly about the offer, deciding to accept it. 

“That would be lovely, thank you,” Regina found herself agreeing to an afternoon of horse riding with the doctor. 

“Lovely,” Maura smiled, “would you like me to pick you up or meet you there?”

“I’ll meet you there,” Regina answered. 

With their plans made, the doctor left the mayors office to have lunch with her girlfriends before getting changed into more appropriate clothes in which to ride. 

Emma was happy Maura was getting along with Regina, at least one of her girlfriends did. 

It wasn’t that Jane didn’t like Regina, or indeed the reverse, Maura just happened to click with Regina in a way Jane and Emma hadn’t. 

Returning to the stables at 2:45pm, Maura saw a dark Mecerdes Benz already parked up, unoccupied. 

Entering the stables a second time, Maura immediately saw the mayor brushing down a black Friesian stallion at the back of the stables with its tack sitting waiting to be fitted. 

“Good afternoon,” Maura greeted her. 

Regina smiled, returning the greeting, actually excited to ride a horse. She hadn’t in way too long. 

“Meredith recommends the white Andalusian mare in the second stall from the left,” Regina pointed out a magnificent horse standing at the gateway of its stall watching the two women speak. 

“There are some stunning horses in this stable,” Maura commented as she tied her hair into a pony tail so it was out of her way. Her riding outfit for the unplanned holiday activity was only a pair of jeans and a borrowed T-shirt from Emma, as well as a borrowed pair of Emma’s boots that were suitable for riding in. 

“There really are, and I’m not down here enough to appreciate them,” Regina replied, dressed in proper riding attire that was at the back of her cupboard. 

In fifteen minutes, the ladies had tacked up their mounts and were walking them outside, having decided to take a trail ride through the forest to a beach Regina knew was only accessible via horse or foot. 

Both women forwent the mounting block in favour of mounting up straight from the ground. In no time at all, both were situated atop their equally tall horses and off for their ride. 

“When was the last time you were out here?” Maura asked Regina after a few moments of riding in comfortable silence. 

“About ten years ago. I used to come out here all the time after I moved to town but after adopting Henry, I didn’t have enough time spare to dedicate to riding.”

“How long have you been here for?”

Realising she probably should have worded her answer better, Regina now had to cover for the towns frozen behaviour - she couldn’t exactly tell the doctor she rode for eighteen frozen years. 

“Long enough, I moved here some time before Henry was born, obviously.”

“And did you have a horse wherever you moved from?” 

A sad smile crossed Regina’s face, thinking of the horse her father taught her to ride on, “Yes, his name was Rocinante, he was a chestnut gelding my father gifted me on my fifteenth birthday. He was killed many years ago, I don’t like to talk about it,” Regina finished, not wanting to remember all over again the reason Rocinante wasn’t in the stable with the other horses from the Enchanted Forrest she’d spent time with. 

The horse she was riding, Antonio, was named for her fathers horse he had as a child, and the horse Maura was riding, Magnifique, was a gift from Maleficent after they commenced their ‘friend’s with benefits’ relationship they had going in the Forrest. 

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Maura apologised. 

“It’s okay, it was a long time ago. I’m just glad Ant and I get on as well as Rocinante and I used to. Magnifique is also a beautiful horse to ride, she’s so gentle and calm.”

They rode on towards the water, about a three mile return trip. 

“Can I ask you a question about your girlfriends?” Regina queried, hesitant to even ask what was on her mind,

“Certainly.”

“What is Jane’s problem? She seems very, I don’t know the word, overbearing maybe, of you and Emma?” 

Maura smiled, knowing exactly what Regina meant, “Jane is the oldest child of three kids. She has two younger brothers and she always felt a responsibility to look out for them, wherever they went. Sometimes you can’t help your family. Her little brother, Tommy, he’s a sweet guy but wasn’t the brightest young adult. Despite Jane and the middle brother, Frank, going into BPD, Tommy went the other way, to jail. He spent a few years in prison for drink driving, hitting their family priest on a cross walk, it was his third DUI offence. Because of not being able to protect her brother from himself, Jane always feels the need to protect Emma and I even though we can take care of ourselves. Half the time, Jane doesn’t realise she’s even doing it,” Maura explained some of the brunettes behaviour.

“So how do you explain the way she came into my office and, for want of a better word, challenged me?” Regina was curious to see the explanation for that act.

“She was being a dick,” Maura simply said, “I think she was a bit jealous that you and Emma had spent more time together than she did with Emma for a few months. Not that that excuses her behaviour at all, and please don’t tell either of them I said that,” Maura half begged. 

“I won’t. What does Jane have to be jealous of?” 

Maura raised a single perfect eyebrow to the mayor, enjoying the slight teasing, “Come on Regina, you are a beautiful woman, from what we’ve heard, you don’t mind getting in Emma’s personal space, and you hold a power of authority over her. For Jane, they are huge turn ons, she loves that kind of behaviour. I think she’s just jealous Emma got another woman’s attention whilst she wasn’t there. Again, please don’t repeat this conversation.”

“Trust me, I won’t,” Regain agreed, going silent and pondering the doctors words. 

Their silence was interrupted when Maura spoke up again, “This is beautiful,” they had reached the beach. 

“Yes, it is,” Regina admired the scenery before her.

The ladies dismounted the horses and walked them along the beach for ten minutes before deciding to head back. 

“How confident are you on that horse?” Regina challenged Maura.

“95% confident, why?”

“I challenge you to get back to the stables first. Are you game?” Regina decided to let her fun side out of hiding for a short while, seeing as how she felt comfortable in the doctors presence.

“Challenge accepted.”

The pair counted down from three and galloped their respective steeds back to the stables, the mayors black mount nudging out the white mare in the last hundred feet. 

Laughing at the fun they’d had, Maura and Regina took the saddle and reins off their horses, affixing leads to their halters and walking them to the yard they could hose the animals down in. 

Whilst hosing off the horses, their conversation continued. 

“Do Emma and Jane ever ride with you?” Regina asked. 

Laughing, Maura answered, “The big, tough, Jane Rizzoli is scared of horses, and I haven’t been riding since before Emma entered our relationship.”

“Your Jane is scared of horses?” Regina asked in disbelief. 

“Yes, she is afraid of nearly anything taller than her, and trust me, that’s not much. Horses though, she is most definitely not a fan,” Maura admitted. 

As they finished taking care of the horses and put them away, Regina thanked Maura for the invite and climbed into her car to go home, Maura following suit to get back to her girlfriends. 

Regina concluded, definitely, that she could be good friends with Doctor Isles, who could turn out to be one of her only real friends in this world.


	24. Baby Sitting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, I do not know if I will be able to update this work on time for a few weeks as I will be working in a remote area with limited internet. I will try to update if possible but if not, I will upload the missed chapters all at once in early April.   
> For now, enjoy this extra long chapter,  
> Happy reading.

After spending a few days helping Emma work and sightseeing, the weekend came around for the residents of Storybrooke. 

Early Saturday morning gave way to a town emergency that required both the Sheriff and the Mayors attention to resolve. 

This left ten year old Henry needing a babysitter for the day. 

Having spent a few days in the company of Maura, Regina felt comfortable enough letting her boy spend a few hours being looked after by the doctor and the detective. The pair were given Regina’s phone number and strict instructions to call her if needed. 

The group of five met at the diner where the Sheriff and Mayor collected take away coffees before proceeding to Town Hall, leaving Henry with Jane and Maura. 

“What do you want for breakfast Henry?” Maura asked him. 

“Can I have a cheeseburger and fries?” he asked excitedly, wanting to push the boundaries his mother would never let him cross. 

“Maybe for lunch but you need a proper breakfast,” Jane answered him, using the same negotiating tactics she did with TJ whenever she looked after him.

“Okay, can I have pancakes please?” Henry asked, more subdued, but still excited to spend the day with new people. 

“Of course, what would you like to drink?” Maura confirmed. 

“Hot chocolate please,” was the polite answer. 

Jane places their orders with Ruby who spoke briefly to Henry before taking the order to the kitchen 

“What do you think about Storybrooke?” Henry asked the ladies. 

Jane looked at Maura before answering, “It’s a nice little town, different.”

“I like it,” Maura answered, “I enjoyed riding with your mom the other day.”

“Have you noticed how much the town looks like fairy tales?” he asked quietly, wanting to get their opinions of the town. 

Saving Maura from having to speak anything but the truth, Jane decided to take charge of answering the boys questions, “There certainly are interesting features of the town Henry that would suit a fairy tale but you can find them in other towns as well.”

“Like what?” Henry asked, not having thought about that before. 

“Like the docks, or the clock tower, or even the stables. You mentioned to me at dinner these were part if the interesting features of town, but they can be found in any small towns across the country. One day when you’re older and start travelling, you’ll see.”

Having that to think about whilst they ate their breakfast, the ten year old was quiet until they left the diner for a walk around town. 

After their walk, Jane suggested the trio take a walk along the beach and walk to the docks. It had been a long time since Jane went to the beach for fun and not for a case. 

“We could get fish and chips for lunch,” Henry added to the suggestion. 

“I thought you wanted a cheeseburger for lunch?” Maura queried. 

“I’m ten, I changed my mind,” Henry grinned, making Jane laugh. 

And so it was decided they would walk the beach to the docks, get lunch and walk back to the car eating ice cream. A perfect outing. 

Jane followed Maura’s directions to the beach and ended up parking where Henry’s old favourite playground was. From there, it would take about half an hour to get to the docks by walking in the slow sand. 

Having both been dressed in long jeans, Jane and Maura rolled up their pant cuffs and carried their shoes whilst Henry followed suit and did the same before running enthusiastically to the cold sand. 

The look of pure joy on the boys face was enough for the two women to forget the chilly air and follow him out onto the deserted beach. 

Jane’s grin matched Henry’s when she felt the sand between her toes and her heels sinking into the slightly cold grains. Holding hands, she and Maura walked down to the firmer sand near the waters edge, both happy that there were no shirtless men walking monkeys on leads in eyeshot. 

Henry had a ball with his biological mothers girlfriends on the beach, running from the water to the sand dunes and back, bringing the women anything he deemed worthy enough of being brought to their attentions. He couldn’t remember the last time he was brought to the beach. 

The group enjoyed their walk to the docks along the beach, sitting on a bench just off the sand to wipe the grains from their feet so they could put their shoes on relatively clean feet. 

Henry led the way to the fish and chip shop, the owner giving the boy a weird look at being accompanied by two strange women. 

After collecting their order, they walked back to the bench to eat their food, Henry eating a lot more than Maura thought a ten-year-old could eat. He wasn’t done though, remembering the offer of ice cream. 

“How can you fit anything more in your belly?” Jane jokingly asked him. 

“I have two stomachs,” Henry monotoned his reply. 

“That’s physically impossible, human beings do not contain enough space inside their abdomens for a person to contain two stomachs,” Maura instantly answered. 

“Google-mouth, it was a joke,” Jane replies, giving Maura a one armed hug whilst ruffling Henry’s hair. 

“Oh, sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologise Maura,” Henry said, “it was just a joke.”

Once they laughed off the moment, Jane took Henry to buy the promised ice cream cones, bringing Maura back a pistachio nut single cone and a bottle of water. 

“Thank you, darling,” Maura kissed Jane, seeing her cone. Pistachio was her favourite flavour of ice cream, a flavour Jane once tried before declaring disgusting. At least Maura was saved from ever having to share with her brunette girlfriend, her blonde one though, didn’t mind the different ice cream. 

Even though the day was quite cool, it didn’t take long for ice cream to start dripping from the cones onto the hands of the trio, prompting them to eat quicker. 

After their treats, the group washed their hands of the excess stickiness and made their way back to the beach to walk to the car, all again taking off their shoes, Jane sticking the half drunk bottle of water in her back jeans pocket. 

Like before, Henry would run ahead of the women, then back, despite having a full belly. This left Jane and Maura happily talking about the small town, contemplating their options. 

Their conversation was interrupted however by a piercing scream from a certain ten-year-old, about fifteen yards ahead. 

Jane immediately turned from speaking to and looking at Maura to Henry, and saw he had dropped to the ground, clutching his left foot with his shoes dropped haphazardly on the sand next to him. 

Jane and Maura ran the short distance to Henry who was crying on the wet sand about ten feet from the waters edge. 

“Henry! What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Jane called as she ran, seeing upon reaching him, a red tinge to the sand under his foot - or as Maura would say, a reddish brown stain.

Through tears, he replied, “I think I stood on something *sniffle* my foot huuuurts!” Henry cried as Jane wrapped an arm around his shoulder. 

“Henry, I’m going to look at your foot, okay, you know I am a doctor don’t you?” Maura asked, quickly going into Doctor Isles mode. 

“Yes, be careful, it hurts,” was the only reply Maura got. 

Gently picking up his ankle whilst Jane comforted him, Maura inspected Henry’s sand covered foot. 

“You’ve stepped on a piece of glass Henry, it’s still in your foot. Can I take it out?” Maura asked for permission, even though she was technically his guardian at the moment. 

“Nooo, it hurts too much,” Henry cried again.

“Henry, buddy, what if I were to give you a piggy back so you’re off the wet sand,” Jane tried to talk him into letting Maura help him, “and Maura fixes your foot for you? We can’t let the glass stay in there, it will get infected and your mom won’t let you hang out with us anymore?”

Thinking about it for a moment, Henry eventually agreed. 

“Jane, before Henry gets on your back, take your shirt off,” Maura requested.

“Maur, this isn’t an appropriate time to ogle me,” Jane replied, Maura reading the underlying question in the sentence.

“I need to wrap Henry’s foot in something to stop the bleeding and you have an under shirt on,” Maura answered. 

Agreeing, Jane took off her short sleeved flannel over shirt and handed it to Maura, then easily lifted the weeping boy onto her back, making sure to gently hold out his left ankle so Maura could easily get to his foot. 

“Henry, you hold onto me tight okay, squeeze my arm if you want too,” Jane offered to him, not being able to hold his hand as she was supporting his weight with her own hands. 

And squeeze Jane’s arm he did, as Maura used some of the water from Jane’s pocket to wash off the boys foot, pull out the offending glass and wash the foot again with the last of the clean water. 

The glass, about an inch long, had half embedded itself into Henry’s heel, making it harder for Maura to wrap Jane’s shirt around his foot to stem the bleeding.

“I think you are going to need a few stitches Henry, who is your doctor?” Maura asked as the group set off along the beach, Jane and Maura walking a lot quicker back to the car, Jane with precious cargo on her back.

“We just have the hospital here,” Henry answered, sniffling now instead of crying, burying his face into Jane’s shoulder.

“There are no doctors offices?”

“No, only the hospital,” was Henry’s muffled answer, confused as to why that was an issue.

“We can’t clog up a hospital for just a few stitches,” Maura replied, pulling out her phone to ring Regina to inform her of the development in the day.

Answering in the first ring, Regina immediately asked, “What’s wrong?” without preamble.

Answering quickly, Maura relayed to the mayor the information and that her boy needed stitches, “Regina, Henry said there’s no doctors office in town, only the hospital?”

“That’s correct, take him there, I’ll meet you there,” Regina told her. 

“Apart from needing a tetanus needle, I could fix Henry’s foot at the BnB, I have my med kit with me, if you’re okay with that?” Maura offered to help.

“Doctor Isles, if you are saying Henry needs a tetanus shot that you don’t have, just take him to the hospital!”

Maura hung up from the mayor as she and Jane reached the Lexus, after Regina agreed to let Maura treat Henry at the hospital. Jane manoeuvred Henry from riding on her back to sitting down in the back seat. Jane climbed in the back seat too, to help hold her shirt on his foot, comforting him the whole time. 

The mayor, accompanied by the Sheriff (to her disgust), of course beat the Lexus to the hospital and immediately ran over to the car, ripping open the door and hugging her son.

For once, Henry didn’t fight her, and let his mother hug him. 

Jane let Henry again climb onto her back to carry him inside the hospital. In only her white tank top, this afforded the mayor an unadulterated view of the detectives muscled arms, muscles rippling under the weight of her son. Regina couldn’t help but think how kind it was of Jane to allow a boy she barely knew to climb on her back, and to have given up her own shirt to be covered in blood, knowing she would have to throw the clothing away. This made Regina rethink her opinion of the detective, and her muscled arms. 

Shaking her head to rid the thoughts of the detectives glorious arms, Regina led the way into the hospital, telling the receptionist to summon Doctor Whale. 

As Doctor Whale came into view, Regina introduced him to Doctor Isles and informed him the new doctor would be treating her son, to get a sutures kit and a tetanus shot so Maura could work.

Happy at not having to deal with the mayor in mother mode, Whale led the group to an unoccupied treatment room and gave the new doctor her requested tools, along with a numbing needle so Henry would not longer be in pain.

Whilst Emma and Regina held each of Henry’s hands though the cleaning and suturing, Jane acted as Maura’s assistant, handing her whatever she needed. 

When it came time for Henry to have his tetanus shot, it was the only time he cried in the hospital, making Maura feel guilty at causing the pain.

With his foot cleaned, stitched and properly bandaged, Maura found Whale to find out where the medical waste went in this hospital. Whale offered to clean the room for them, just so he didn’t have to deal with Regina any longer than necessary. He gave the group a number of strong pain killers for Henry, so the boy wouldn’t be in pain that night and should be able to get a decent nights sleep.

Leaving the hospital, Regina thanked Maura for helping her son, and Jane for comforting him, and offered to cook dinner again to show her appreciation. 

The offer was accepted and the three girlfriends left the mother and son alone for the afternoon, promising to see the boy that evening.


	25. A Serious Proposal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All, 
> 
> So I'm finally back to internet, yay!
> 
> As promised, I will post the two missed chapters, one today, one tomorrow.
> 
> Happy Reading, 
> 
> Vespers_Reign

After the minor trauma of the day at the beach, the three girlfriends went to the Rabbit Hole for a drink before making their way to Regina’s later that night. 

Arriving at the bar, they walked in the front door and chose to sit in a booth in the far corner, hopefully away enough from other tables that people wouldn’t come up and interrupt their conversations. 

Jane and Maura had started the conversation they wanted to have back on the beach, just before Henry got hurt. Now, it was time to bring Emma into the conversation for her opinion. 

With a beer in front of the two officers and a red wine in front of the doctor, the conversation was started.

“Emma, did you know there was only the hospital in this town, no doctors?” Maura asked her. 

“I know Doctor Hopper has an office but no other doctors surgeries, why?”

“I think a town should at least have one doctors surgery, not just rely on a hospital. People shouldn’t have to go to the hospital just because they have the flu, it should be for emergencies,” Maura continued. 

“True,” Emma agreed. 

“And there is only you in the Sheriffs office, why isn’t there another person there to help you?” Jane asked. 

Baffled at the third degree questioning, Emma answered that the town had survived on one Sheriff with Graham.

“And look how that turned out, he dropped dead of a suspected heart attack at the ripe old age of thirty-four,” was Jane’s response. 

“Why are you guys pushing these issues? Did something happen?” Emma worriedly asked. 

“Nothing happened, Jane and I are just thinking of our future,” Maura placated the blonde. 

“Your future? That doesn’t sound good.”

“Hun, what we’re thinking about, if it’s okay with you, is maybe moving to Storybrooke. Would you be okay with that?” Jane said. 

Choking in the sip of beer she’d just drunk, Emma cleared her throat before answering, “Move to Storybrooke? What about your lives in Boston?”

“Only if you are okay with it,” Maura repeated, “we would of course have to give our notices in at work, and I’d have to interview potential new ME’s. We were thinking that I could open a doctors surgery here and Jane could join you as Deputy Sheriff at the station. We could buy a place here and we could all be together again,” Maura smiled. 

In disbelief, Emma hugged her two girlfriends at once, the fact they were both willing to give up the jobs they loved and lived for just to be with her was nothing short of amazing. 

“I love you guys,” Emma whispered, “how long have you been thinking about this for?”

“Well I’d been trying to work out our relationship long distance for a while now,” Jane replied, “and I do love my job, but I love you more. If I could join you in the Sheriffs Department, I could still do the job I love, just differently. And I think Maura’s mind was made up the minute Henry stood on that glass this afternoon."

Nodding, Maura agreed, “Yes, I was thinking about just working in the hospital but after Henry saying there were no doctors, other than Doctor Hopper, I know I could open up a much needed facility somewhere in town.”

“You two are amazing,” Emma repeated, listening to the womens plans, “but what about your family Jane?”

“They’re your family too Ems, and they’ll be fine, we’ll go visit them often enough, Ma can stay in the guest house or in the main house if she really wants, otherwise she could move into my old apartment when the tenants lease runs up and Maura could rent out her place-”

“No, Angela can stay in the main house, that way we have it for whenever we venture back to Boston,” Maura said with a note of finality, “plus, I don’t like the idea of people renting out my personal space.”

Laughing, Jane asked, “But people renting my place is fine,” she said, emphasising the ‘my’ in the sentence. 

Guiltily, Maura just shrugged in a very unlike Maura way. 

Emma couldn’t wipe the grin off her face, “I will talk with Regina tonight and ask about the budget for the Sheriffs office and make sure I can put you on. Maura, you can ask her anything you need to about space and licenses for a doctors office. I would think she would be happy to have another doctor in town, especially after poor Henry today.”

“I doubt Regina will let us look after the kid again, not now that he’s been returned with stitches in his foot,” Jane commented. 

“You never know,” Emma replied, “I did catch her checking out your arms as you lifted Henry on your back and carried him into the hospital. If I didn’t know better, I’d have said she was admiring your body.”

“It is a lovely body to admire,” Maura added. 

Grinning like a fool, Jane only nodded and kept drinking her beer.

Once their drinks were finished, the group returned to the BnB for showers and a change of clothes before heading over to Mifflin Street for dinner and to check on the patient. 

On the way over to the Mayors house, the cars occupants were less tense than the last time they made this journey. At least this time they were invited under the Mayors actual want of guests, not because of a certain someones pig headedness. 

The door to 108 didn’t open of its own accord this time, instead Emma knocked on the door and waited for Regina to open it. 

“How is Henry?” Emma asked the moment the door was open.

Gesturing for the women to come in Regina led the way into the informal lounge room where Henry was laying on the couch with his foot propped up by a bunch of pillows, cartoons playing quietly on the television. Quietly entering the room, the women saw the boy was asleep, so all quietly backed out of the room to leave him be. 

Leading the way to the kitchen where she had chicken cacciatore cooking, Regina said, “He fell asleep on the way home from the hospital after the pain killers you gave him, he’s been asleep since. Wine?”

Regina pulled down a Chianti wine from the wine rack and opened it, offering the ladies each a glass.

“We are very sorry Henry was hurt on our watch, Regina,” Maura apologised. 

Shaking her head, the mayor responded, “Nonsense, it was an accident. And at least he had the right people there to help him. Thank you both very much for looking after Henry and his foot. I’m sure he couldn’t have been the easiest of patients.”

“He was easy, Maura’s patients don’t speak so at least Henry could tell us exactly what was wrong!” Jane joked.

Smiling at the detective, Regina agreed, “Yes, well that is a plus. You must tell me where your shirt was from so I can replace it for you.”

“Nah, it was an old shirt, don’t worry about it,” Jane waved her kind offer off, “you cooking dinner is thanks aplenty, trust me. Emma will tell you I have too many flannel shirts, she’ll be happy to have been able to turf one.”

“This is true,” Emma piped up. 

Changing topics away from Jane’s dress sense, Maura said, “Dinner smells wonderful again, can I help you with anything?”

“It’s nearly ready, maybe you could slice the bread on the bench over there?” Regina pointed to the island bench in the kitchen that had a whole loaf of ciabatta bread on it waiting to be cut. 

“Do you want us to set the table?” Jane offered.

“That would be helpful, thank you, plates and cutlery are in those cupboards and draws,” Regina pointed to the end of the kitchen, “and the dining room is through that door.”

“I remember,” Jane said, walking to her assigned job, Emma helping. 

Many hands make quick work and soon enough, the dinner was on a serving platter being carried into the dining room by Jane as Regina went through to the lounge room to wake her son for dinner. 

Gently shaking Henry’s shoulder, Regina spoke to him, “Henry, baby, you need to wake up. Dinner is ready, and Jane, Maura and Emma are here.”

Sleepily, Henry spoke to his mom, “Jane was really nice to me. She let me ride on her back and carried me the whole way back to the car.”

Smiling at the brunettes kindness, Regina asked “Did she really?”

“Yeah, and she gave me her shirt so I didn’t get blood everywhere, and she sat in the back of the car with me, and she held me when Maura pulled the glass out of my foot and poured water over it.”

Though Regina knew Jane helped Maura care for Henry’s injury, she didn’t know the detective had done everything else Henry was rattling off whilst he was waking up. 

“I think you need to give Jane and Maura a big hug then, and thank them for helping you,” Regina advised her son whilst she helped him gingerly to his feet. 

Walking on the tips of his toes, Regina helped Henry walk through to the dining room where Henry immediately did as his mother advised and hugged Jane and Maura thank you. 

“You’re very welcome buddy, I hope you feel better very soon,” Jane said as she released Henry from the hug. 

“You were a very good patient Henry. Would it be okay with you if I checked your stitches before I leave tonight, just to make sure there isn’t any infection setting in?” Maura queried.

Looking to his mom for permission to let Maura do as asked, he nodded his head, echoing the actions of the mayor.

Despite Henry’s injury, and previously asleep state, dinner turned out to be a lively affair with Henry telling the mayor and sheriff about his morning before he got hurt. 

Henry’s alertness only lasted an hour though before his foot hurt and was provided more pain killers which made him sleepy. As promised, Maura checked Henry’s foot before he said he was going to bed. 

“Jane?” he asked shyly “Can you carry me up to my room, the stairs will hurt my foot.”

“If that’s okay with your mom,” Jane agreed. 

“Come on, I’ll show you the way,” Regina agreed whilst Emma and Maura offered to clear off the dishes.

Having hugged Maura and Emma goodnight, Henry clambered up onto Janes back, and was carried up to his bed. Jane sat on the kids bed to let him off and gave him a hug goodnight, automatically tucking him in as she would TJ. 

Exiting Henry’s room, Jane was quickly followed out by Regina who’d bid her son goodnight. 

“Thank you, Jane, you didn’t have to do that for him, Henry could have walked.”

“It was nothing, Madame Mayor, I have a young nephew who I give piggy backs to all the time, I’m used to it,” Jane smiled. 

“Still, thank you. And thank you again for looking after him whilst he was hurt, Henry said you carried him back to the car?”

“Yeah, all along the beach. It was good exercise for me, I don’t have to go to the gym now,” she joked. 

Leading the way back down stairs, Regina offered the detective another glass of wine. 

“Thanks but I’m driving, I’ll only have one glass of wine if I’m driving.”

“A responsible adult, what I like in my town.”

Entering the kitchen and smiling at her girlfriends, Jane now had the perfect segue into the questions she and Maura wanted to ask of the Mayor. 

“Speaking of ‘your town’, is there enough money in your towns budget to another sheriff to the station, well a deputy sheriff, I mean?” Jane asked.

“What do you mean?” Regina clarified.

“Maura, Emma and I were discussing it this afternoon, of us perhaps moving here permanently. Maura thought she could open up a proper doctors surgery so your hospital isn’t clogged with silly things like stitches, and I could work with Emma as another officer in town. What do you think?” 

Taken aback by all of this proposed change, Regina stalled for time to answer, “I think it is a lot to think about after some wine. How about you three come to my office Monday morning and we can discuss it more in depth.”

"Yeah, we can do that,” Emma agreed, "for now though, I think we ought to leave, I’m getting tired.”

The ladies bid farewell to their hostess, leaving her in a little bit of shock at their plans to move. 

Regina had to admit though, her opinion of one Detective Rizzoli had certainly changed today after the way she helped her son. Would it be so bad if two new people moved permanently to town, bringing another police officer and an actual real world trained doctor? 

Only time would tell.


	26. House Hunting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second late chapter as promised, make sure you've read chapter 25 that was posted yesterday. 
> 
> The next chapter will be updated on Friday, back to updates as usual. Thanks everyone reading, commenting and leaving kudos, it's always good to read opinions on the story.
> 
> Happy reading, 
> 
> Vespers_Reign

Excited at the prospect of moving, Jane, Maura and Emma woke up on Sunday morning eager to get a head start on looking at properties in the Storybrooke area.

After a quick breakfast at Granny’s, the Sheriff was able to get the keys to available houses off the only real estate agent in town, Topher Robinson from Hundred Acre Real Estate and set about examining the five houses for sale. 

Starting with the closest house on Drury Lane, off Main Street, the trio set off walking, deciding to enjoy the morning air. They would drive to the other houses. 

As Jane approached Drury Lane, she did notice a peculiarity Henry would surely have already noted, on the corner of Drury Lane and Main Street, was as bakery, selling of course, muffins. Perhaps this was a nod to the boys fairy tale theory. 

Sharing the tidbit with her girlfriends, Emma and Maura agreed it was strange but not down right ridiculous. 

The women approached the house for sale, a few houses down from the bakery. It was a two story yellow house, a positive mark in Emma’s book, with a small from yard. 

Using the key given to her by Topher, Emma opened up the house, immediately being confronted by a smell of stale air. Clearly not even a window had been left open in the place. 

Walking around the dwelling, Maura noted the kitchen was small, Jane took notice of the lack of security features such as no security screens or locks on the windows or doors and Emma was overlooking the nice demure yellow outside to the glaring bright yellow of the inside walls. 

This was definitely not the house for them. 

Locking up the house with a definite no, Emma led the trio to the Lexus parked in front of the diner so they could drive to the other houses. 

The next two houses were not too bad and were on the maybe list.

Heading over to the second last house, Emma read out the houses detail whilst Jane drove. The house itself sounded nice, it was the neighbours Jane realised would be a problem as soon as she pulled into the driveway. 

The house next door was set out in a horseshoe shape around a front yard, in which there were many children running and yelling amongst themselves with an older lady sitting in a rocking chair just outside the front door, not paying attention to the children. 

As Jane and Maura walked into the house, Emma walked around the yard, or what she could of the yard. The many children next door had thrown toys, rubbish, balls and anything else they seemed to be able to get their hands on over the fence into the yard of the vacant property.

She might have to keep an eye on those children as Sheriff. 

Deciding she would not be able to live next door to such chaos, Emma went inside to find her girlfriends and was not impressed by the internals of the house either. There was not much space in the living room of the one storey house and there were only two bedrooms. Definitely not big enough. 

With their fingers crossed the last house would be acceptable, Jane drove over to 10th Street West, looking for house 710. 

Immediately upon locating the house, all three women bore smiles on their faces. 

710 10th Street West was a glorious grey-blue three storey house with white accents and a three storey front turret on the right hand side as you look at the house. 

The front yard though on the small side, was bordered by a white picket fence with a large green leafy tree in front. A small balcony was afforded privacy from the road frontage by said tree. 

Walking around the yard, Jane saw there was plenty of space in the back yard along with a large lock up garage at the back of the property. 

She made her way to the front of the house ready for Emma to open the front door. 

The blonde did the honours, opening the front door into a spacious lounge room on the right hand side with an open plan kitchen on the left. 

Maura went straight into the kitchen and was impressed with what she saw. With a large island bench offset towards the front of the kitchen space, the kitchen area was large enough for at least four people to move around without knocking into each other. The space was filled with modern appliances and was a pale grey with white accents, matching the colour scheme of the outside. The appliances too matched the decor, all being a clean stark white. 

Happy with what she saw in the kitchen, Maura walked over to her girlfriends who were drooling over the large lounge room, complete with an ornate fireplace on the far right wall from the door. 

Jane walked over to the turret’s bay window in the front corner of the lounge room, loving the large window seat the three of girlfriends could easily fit on together. 

Emma came over to Jane and wrapped her arm around the detectives waist, “I could see us living here.”

“Yeah,” Jane said quietly, “me too.”

Joining her girlfriends and claiming the other side of Janes waist, Maura added her two cents into the conversation, “Me three. I really like this house, and we’ve only seen the first floor.”

“Then let’s go up,” Emma suggested. 

“Let’s.”

Walking up the stairs in the centre of the room, Jane noted there was a cellar under the stairs, making a mental note to check it out when they returned downstairs. 

Leading the charge to the second floor, Maura opened the doors to the room as the ladies came across them. 

On the left hand side of the corridor, were three large bedrooms, opposite which was a large family bathroom, a small study and a large games/movie room, complete with its own bay window of the three floor turret. 

“We could have so much fun in there,” Emma winked at Jane, thinking of the different games consoles they could hook up in the open space. 

Happy with the middle floor, Jane led the trio up to the third and final floor, the master floor. The stairs led up to an open area in the third floor where Jane could imagine Maura adding stylish armchairs for the ladies to relax. Beyond the open area was a large room that would be utilised as an office. On the other side of the third floor was the spacious master bedroom and master bathroom. 

The master bedroom would easily fit a king size bed in the centre of the room, leaving a large space for living in the room. Of course, the bay turret window was the feature point of the bedroom. Through in the bathroom was a spacious double shower and double sink with a separated toilet. 

Though the bathroom wasn’t the triplicate bathroom the ladies were accustomed to in Maura’s house, they knew they would not find that in any house they would buy, that would have to be an adjustment they make on their own. 

“Emma, darling, I absolutely love this house,” Maura gushed, grinning from ear to ear. 

“I know, me too,” Jane added. 

“Shall we make an offer?” Emma asked, knowing the answer before asking the question. 

“Yes!” Jane shouted happily.

“Leave it with me then, we’ll see what Regina has to say tomorrow and if it turns out you two will move here, I’ll make an appointment with Mr Robinson for Tuesday morning, how does that sound?”

“Sound’s perfect, my dear,” Maura husked, kissing Emma soundly. 

“Hey where’s my kiss?” Jane pretended to be affronted.

After satisfying their brunette girlfriend’s need for attention, Emma and Maura held Jane’s hands as they walked down the stairs. 

“I just want to check out the basement quickly,” Jane said as the others went to leave.

Jane walked over to the basement door and saw it had a lock on it. 

“Do you have those keys?” she asked Emma, who handed over the requested items. 

“Thanks,” Jane muttered as she went to work trying the assortment of keys into the old looking lock. 

After a few minutes of tinkering, the basement door swung open, revealing a set of wooden stairs downwards. Jane quickly found a light switch and flooded the space with light from a bare bulb. Jane saw the basement was seven steps down, and about fifteen feet by fifteen feet, with a wine rack in the corner, still with bottles in the rack covered with dust. 

“Maura, come down here,” Jane called, if there was anyone who knew wine, Maura was that person. 

Jane held out her hand to steady Maura as she walked in her heels down the wooden stairs, the doctor walking over to the wine rack to inspect. 

Picking up bottles methodically and clearing the dust off them, Maura studied the bottles, noting the lack of modern labels.

“These bottles only have inscriptions in the glass, no labels. I’ve never seen anything like these before. I do not know where these came from, what they are or how old they are,” Maura admitted. 

“Maybe we could take them to Regina and ask her, she might know,” Emma suggested. 

“After we buy the house,” Jane amended. 

“Of course,” Maura agreed.

Very happy with what they had seen, the ladies left the house and locked it up, returning the keys to the real estates after hours key locker. 

Over dinner, they discussed everything they liked about the house, falling in love with it all over again. 

Hopefully, tomorrow, their meeting with the Mayor would go as planned, and they would be in a position to buy the house of their new dreams.


	27. A Meeting With the Mayor

Waking bright and early Monday morning, still on a high from their house hunting the day before, Emma, Maura and Jane enjoyed a lengthy, steamy shower together before heading down to the diner for breakfast. 

Across town, the Mayor was running through her morning routine, getting both herself and her son ready for the day ahead. 

Making Henry’s breakfast and school lunch, Regina decided to tell the boy about her planned meeting with the Sheriff and her girlfriends, making him feel a bit better as his foot was still sore from his injury. 

Henry was disappointed to find out that he would still have to go to school with his injured foot, though he would not be allowed to play in the playground at lunch time. 

“Henry,” the Mayor gained her sons attention, “I want you to know I’m meeting with Emma, Jane and Maura today, we are going to discuss a some adult business but I want you to know I am trying to be friendly with them, just as you asked.”

“What are you going to talk to them about?” Henry asked.

“As I said, we are going to be discussing adult business but if it goes well, I will tell you about it when I pick you up from school this afternoon, how does that sound?”

Curious, but happy to know his mom was trying, Henry answered simply, “Okay.”

Conversation over, Regina hurried Henry along getting ready for school and drove him, happy the boy allowed her a kiss goodbye at the school gate, something she had missed out on in the last few months. 

Parking in her designated spot at Town Hall, Regina was unable to see a Lexus or a Bug in the carpark, she obviously had arrived before her appointees. 

Walking up into the building and making her way solo up in the elevator to her office, Regina greeted Louise already seated at her desk. 

“I have the Sheriff and her girlfriends coming at 9:30am for a meeting, please notify me when they arrive,” Regina asked as she picked up the items in her ‘in’ tray. 

“Certainly, Madame Mayor,” Louise assured. 

Regina walked into her office and worked on pressing matters for half an hour before her appointment arrived. 

At 9:30am sharp, Emma, Maura and Jane walked through the door into her office, coffees in hand, Emma pulling over a third chair from the table on the right hand side of the office. 

Maura walked straight over to the Mayors desk and placed a hazelnut latte on the desk in front of the desks owner. 

Raising a questing eyebrow, Regina asked the doctor about the beverage, “Is this coffee a bribe?” 

Smiling, the doctor replied, “Certainly not, Regina. I don’t know if you like flavoured coffee’s, I enjoy a hazelnut latte occasionally and thought you as well might like one. I hope I am not wrong?”

“I can’t say I have ever tried a flavoured coffee, I did not know Granny served flavoured coffee,” Regina commented. 

“She doesn’t,” Emma answered, sitting down, “Maura brought the flavour with her and added it herself. Jane brought me up vanilla flavouring, you can try it one day if you want.”

“Thank you. Shall we get down to business?”

“Yes,” the trio replied. 

“Sheriff, you asked me about budgets for the Sheriffs Department, please expand on that request,” Regina started their meeting formally. 

“Madame Mayor,” Emma started equally formal and polite, “I request further funding for the Sheriffs Department to allow a further officer be added to the roster. At the present time, with one Sheriff, one officer for the whole town, I am on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The fatigue management on that level of responsibility in unsustainable over a long period of time. Along with the fatigue management, a safety issue is apparent being a single officer station. With another officer stationed here in Storybrooke, not only will I be afforded much needed rest when required, I will also have another officer as back up in dangerous situations. I bring to your attention to arrest last week of Mister Gold, of her own volition, Detective Rizzoli attended the job with me, volunteering her time to assist. It was a good thing Detective Rizzoli attended with me as the situation turned volatile with an irate Mr. Gold laying into Mister French, Detective Rizzoli assisted to bring the offender under control and assisted in performing a successful and safe arrest. For these reasons, Madame Mayor, I request in the budget the funding to have Detective Rizzoli employed as Deputy Sheriff. As she is already a sworn officer of the Boston Police Department, little training will be required as Detective Rizzoli is trained in Police Operational Skills. She will only need to be brought up to speed on laws within Maine and Storybrooke,” Emma finished her proposal. 

Thinking over the Sheriffs words, Regina took a moment before turning to the woman in question. 

“Detective Rizzoli, I understand you volunteered your holiday time to assist the Sheriff with the Mister Gold investigation. Having essentially worked in my small town for a day, do you think you would be a suitable Deputy Sheriff, moving from a large, bustling metropolis to a quiet country town?”

“Yes, Madame Mayor, I think I would make a suitable Deputy Sheriff. At this point in time, I am employed as a Homicide Detective. I chase murderers weekly, a dangerous job I conduct with a brilliant team providing me back up. I understand the importance of having someone to have my back, I would be happy to fulfil that role for Sheriff Swan. I can assure you, our relationship will not become a conflict of interest as I have already proven on the Mister Gold job. I bring to the station over fifteen years of policing experience, ten of those years as a Detective,” Jane added. 

“Very well. Doctor Isles, it was mentioned you wish to open a Doctors Office in town. Tell me about that.”

“On Saturday, I was privileged to assist a young man with a minor foot injury. This injury though required a hospital visit, adding to congestion on a small medical centre. Should a fully stocked doctors office be present in this town, minor injuries such as this young mans could be dealt with at the office, as well as conducting regular medical checks on townspeople as per larger cities. I feel confident I could run a small practice on my own, and would be able to source and obtain any and all required medical supplies,” Maura offered her own proposal. 

“I see, well, ladies, you all have well spoken proposals. I am inclined to agree with the proposal that another officer would be beneficial to the Sheriffs Department, as would an actual doctors office. Detective Rizzoli, if you wish to become Deputy Sheriff of Storybrooke, I require you to furnish an application and submit that, along with your resume to my office, as soon as possible. Doctor Isles, similarly, please submit a written proposal, along with approximate hours of operation, costings and your resume to my office. Again, as soon as you submit this proposal, I will review it and respond.”

Smiling, Emma spoke up, “Thank you very much, Madame Mayor.”

“Yes, thank you,” Maura smiled, “If I may now ask a personal question, how is Henry’s foot?” 

“He is not happy I made him go to school but other than that, it is good. I’m going to change the bandage tonight for him,” Regina reported.

“Would you like me to have a look and change the bandage, that way I can make sure it isn’t becoming infected,” Maura offered. 

Smiling at Maura’s thoughtfulness, Regina replied, “That would be wonderful of you, thank you.”

“Do you want to meet us at Granny’s for dinner tonight with Henry, then you can bring him up to our room for Maura to check his foot, her medical kit is in our room,” Jane added.

“Sounds like a plan,” Regina agreed. 

“Have you spoken to him about our possibly moving here, Regina?” Emma asked the other woman. 

“I spoke to him this morning, all I told him was that we were having a meeting today, to discuss adult business, and that I would talk to him about it this afternoon after school,” Regina informed her. 

“Okay, well I think it all looks likely Jane and Maura will be moving here, so maybe we tell him a little bit of what we have planned. Not all of it incase it doesn’t work out, but enough to not blind side him.”

‘Like I was blind sided when you came to town,’ Regina couldn’t help but think, even though she was making an effort where the newcomers were concerned.

“Perhaps we tell him that inquiries are being made into potential employment for us here, but that nothing is concrete,” Maura offered a suggestion of what to tell the boy. 

Smiling, Jane answered her girlfriend, “Whilst I agree with what you said, we just have to find a child friendly way of saying that big sentence, smarty-pants,” Jane advised, causing the Sheriff and Mayor to laugh together. 

‘I like her laugh,’ Jane thought hearing the Mayors joy at her ribbing her doctor. 

Containing her laughter, Regina replied, “So it’s settled then, we’ll meet at Granny’s at six for dinner and to check Henry’s foot. Jane, Maura, if you wish to get started on your proposals and applications, I know there is a spare computer in the Sheriffs Office you are welcome to use.”

“Thank you, Madame Mayor,” Jane answered, standing up to lead her girlfriends out of the office. 

“Goodbye Regina,” Maura smiled as she farewelled the Mayor. 

“Goodbye Doctor Isles.”

As the three ladies left the office, Regina took a moment to appreciate the aesthetically pleasing sight of the three women holding hands as they left, clearly a solid and happy relationship. 

Going back to her work, Regina thought on how much she wished to one day be in such a loving relationship herself. 

‘One day,’ Regina thought.


	28. A Paperwork Afternoon

Leaving the mayors office, Jane decided to get a start on her Deputy Sheriffs application and go with Emma to the station to use the stations computer to write up a resume, something she hasn’t had to do for quite a number of years. Though Regina said she would peruse the applications and proposals and get back to the ladies, Jane and Maura made the decision to move to Maine regardless, to be with Emma, even if it came to applying to Granny’s for a waitressing job. 

Maura too decided to go to the station, dropping into the BnB to grab her laptop to work on.

As Maura got her laptop, Jane and Emma got an early lunch to take with them to the station, Granny commenting on the large tab the women had racked up over the past nine days. 

“Trust me, we’ll pay our bill before we leave,” Jane smiled at the kindly old lady. 

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t, child, I have your credit card details,” Granny laughed. 

“Well, you have my credit card details,” Maura added, coming into the conversation. 

“So long as the bill gets paid, I don’t care,” Granny said as she bid the women farewell, Jane carrying the drinks, Emma with the food. 

Unlocking the station and taking care of Sheriffs business, Emma left her girlfriends to their respective resumes and applications, handing Jane the Deputy Sheriffs application. 

The doctor and detective worked quietly on their documents, Jane getting Maura to make sure her writing was the best it could be. 

After an hour of working, and the lunch food had been devoured, the Sheriffs station received call about a cat stuck up a tree, chased of course by an escaped Pongo. 

Sick of looking at a computer screen, Jane went with Emma to the mundane rescue, a far cry from her usual call of a murder seen. 

Being tall and lanky came in handy for Jane, Emma relegating her to climbing the tree to get Mrs Phillips cat down as Emma caught the unruly Dalmatian. 

Covered in scratches from the angry cat, Jane handed it back to Mrs Phillips, before walking over to Emma to take ahold of Pongo. 

“I miss Jo Friday,” Jane murmured, ruffling Pongo’s head. 

“We’ll bring her with us, she can have an actual yard to run around in,” Emma suggested. 

“Yeah, that would be awesome.”

The Sheriff and her girlfriend walked Pongo back to Archie, reiterating his need to have better control over his dog, citing Jane’s scratched arms as reason enough. 

Returning to the Sheriffs Station, Jane had Maura check over the scratches, the doctor announcing she would disinfect the scratches when they went back to the BnB. 

As Jane got back to filling out the application form for the Deputy’s spot, she came down to the ‘References’ section and realised she would have to call BPD to let them know she was putting Lieutenant Cavanaugh and Korsak down as her references. 

Deciding to start with Korsak, Jane called his mobile phone, waiting only two rings before it was picked up.

“Hey Jane, how’s your leave going?”

“Hey Korsak, yeah good, how’s work going?”

“Yeah, good.”

“Is the Lieu in his office?” Jane asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“I have something I need to talk to you both about, would you mind walking through to his office and putting me on speaker phone?”

“You’re leaving BPD,” Korsak stated understandingly. 

“How did you guess?” Jane thought her tone was neutral, but then again, Korsak is a brilliant detective. 

“Your family is more important than your job, not by much, but enough to leave for. How is Emma going with the mystery kid?” Korsak asked as he got up to walk to the bosses office. 

“He’s an interesting kid with an interesting mother,” Jane answered, hearing Korsak knocking on the Lieutenants office door. 

Through the phone, Jane heard Korsak say to Cavanaugh, “Lieu, Rizzoli’s on the phone, she says it’s important.”

Korsak entered the office, closed the door and took a seat opposite his boss, placing his phone, now on speaker phone, on the bosses desk, “You’re on speaker with Lieu and I Rizzoli.”

“Good afternoon Lieutenant,” Jane greeted her boss. 

“Good afternoon Rizzoli, what can I help you with?”

“As you know, I’m up in Maine with Emma and Maura. Emma came up here a few months ago in relation to a personal matter. She has in fact moved here. After being away from Emma from so long, and after spending this last week with her, Maura and I realised we no longer want to be apart from Emma. As Emma is staying here in Maine, I am applying for the Deputy Sheriffs position here in Storybrooke. I need two references to vouch for my professionalism and work record. I am writing down yourself, Lieutenant, and Korsak you too. Is this okay with you both?” Jane asked, replying the needed information as quickly as she could. 

“Is this your resignation, Detective?” Lieutenant Cavanaugh asked.

“Not technically Lieutenant, I’m just applying at this stage. Maura still has to call the Governor and discuss her leaving with him. We will leave when Maura’s position is replaced. I will tender my formal resignation upon that information boss,” Jane explained. 

“Okay, put us down as references and we will discuss this properly upon your return,” Cavanaugh said to Jane.

“Yes, sir, thank you sir.”

“I’ll talk to you later Jane,” Korsak said. 

Hanging up the phone with a sigh, Jane turned to Maura and said exasperatedly, “Your turn.”

Nodding, and realising Jane was right, that she had to call the Governor to get started on finding a replacement Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Massachusetts, Maura picked up her own phone and dialled the Governors office. 

When his secretary answered, Maura asked to be put through to the Governor. It took ten minutes of being on hold but soon enough, the Governor answered, “Doctor Isles, how may I help you?” he asked. 

“Governor, sir, good afternoon. I am calling to advise you I will be tendering my resignation as soon I return to the office Monday morning,” straight to the point was Maura’s tactic. 

“This is unexpected and coming from nowhere, is everything okay Doctor Isles?” the Governor asked, concerned. 

Appreciating the concern from her boss, Maura replied, “Everything is wonderful sir, I am moving to be with my girlfriend up in Maine, she’s had to move for personal reasons and Jane and I are supporting her and moving too. I will assist in locating a suitable replacement upon my return sir, to make the transition as smooth as possible.”

“Okay, Doctor, come to my office upon your return to Boston and we can discuss this in person, bring your resignation letter with you,” the Governor said. 

“Yes, sir, I will see you Monday morning, say at 10:00am?”

“Yes, see you then Doctor, goodbye.”

“Goodbye, sir.”

With their respective bosses notified of their impending departures, Maura and Jane decided they’d done enough work on their respective documents for the day, and decided to go to Topher Robinsons real estate office to discuss buying the 10th Street West house. 

Emma remained in the Sheriffs Station completing her own paperwork Regina expected on her desk by Friday afternoon. 

Whilst Emma worked, Jane and Maura walked through the house again with Topher, discussing the purchase details. 

Having already decided they would move to Maine, Jane and Maura went back with Topher to the real estate office to start the paperwork to make the house theirs. As a notary back in Boston, Maura was a qualified person to witness signatures on formal documents, such as real estate docs. Because she was the person needing a notary though, she couldn’t notarise her own documents. 

Getting all the paperwork off Topher, as well as the sale price for the house, Maura and Jane took the stack of pages with them to review with Emma, before deciding to ask Regina if she would notarise their signatures that night whilst Maura checked over Henry’s foot. And Jane’s scratches.


	29. A Happy Henry

Finishing the rest of the days requirements as mayor, Regina walked out of Town Hall in time to drive over to Henry’s school to collect him, before the school bell rang. 

Regina walked over to the school gate, politely smiling at the other parents gathered by the short wire fence. A few returned her polite smile, others completely ignored her. Good thing there hadn’t been an election in twenty-eight years. 

Hearing the school bell ring, Regina looked over to the classrooms to see a stampede of children heading towards the crowd of parents by the gate. 

Spotting Henry walking slowly with his sore foot, Regina entered the school yard and walked towards him, planning on taking his school bag for him. As soon as Henry saw his mom though, Regina saw a smile crack across his face. Happy her son was smiling at her, she watched as he quickened his pace, as quick as he could, to get to where she was, the pair meeting in the middle.

Greeting Henry and picking his backpack off his back, Regina asked, “How is your foot, dear?”

“Still sore,” Henry mumbled, “I didn’t get to play on the playground with my friends.”

Putting her arm around his shoulder, Regina replied, “I know dear, but it is better now to have a few days off the playground than it would be to have a few weeks off if you really hurt your foot playing now.”

“I guess,” was the quiet answer Regina got from the boy as she held open the door to the Mercedes for him to climb into, passing his school bag to him as well. 

Knowing what would cheer Henry up, Regina reminded him she had a meeting with Emma, Maura and Jane that morning.

“That’s right!” Henry excitedly remembered, “What did you talk about?”

“We discussed a lot of adult business but I can tell you, Jane and Maura are going to apply for some jobs in town. If that goes well, then the ladies might move here. It is a big maybe, but it is a maybe,” Regina explained to him, still in the dark about the ladies decision to move regardless of whether or not they get the jobs they’re applying for.

“That’s so cool,” Henry said, impressed his mom was able to accept that new people were wanting to move to town, especially because of the curse. Not that Henry would say that to Regina though. Instead, he threw a bunch of questions at her, “When are they moving? Where are they going to live? What jobs are they applying for?”

“Take a breath, dear, those are all questions you’ll have to ask them. Would you like to have dinner with the ladies tonight at Granny’s?” Regina asked, pulling into the driveway of 108 Mifflin Street. 

“Yes,” Henry squealed, “can I have a burger?”

“If you come inside and do all of your homework,” Regina answered, “you can certainly have a burger.”

“But what if I don’t have any homework,” Henry tried getting out of the work he really didn’t want to do.

Opening the door for Henry to limp from the car to the house, Regina spoke, “Henry Daniel Mills, I know you have home work to do, and you shall do it.”

“Yes, mom,” Henry ducked his head as he walked past his mother and lead the slow walk to the kitchen. 

“Set up your homework at the table and I’ll make us afternoon tea, would you like a hot chocolate?” 

“Yes please mom, thank you,” Henry set up his homework at the table as he watched his mother make a quick snack and a hot chocolate for him. 

Sitting down with a cup of tea, Regina looked over at Henry’s homework but didn’t recognise the work he was completing. 

“What are you working on?” she asked him. 

“Long division. Mom, do I even have to learn this, will I ever use it in the real life?”

“Yes, you have to learn it because it’s the curriculum the school has set. You will use division in real life too,” Regina tried to answer Henry without dissuading the boy from his work. 

“But there are calculators to do that stuff for you,” Henry tried to reason as he drank his hot chocolate, licking the cinnamon and cream off his top lip. 

“True, but you won’t always have a calculator in your pocket.”

“Yes I will, phones have calculators,” Henry looked at his mom with such seriousness.

“Regardless,” Regina tried to finish this discussion before Henry reasoned his way out of maths, “you still need to do your homework, come on.”

It took over half an hour but eventually, Regina was able to help Henry finish all of his homework, long division included.

Packing up his books, Henry turned to his mother, “Thank you for helping me with my homework,” he said, reaching out to give the woman a hug.

“You are very welcome Henry, why don’t you go through to the lounge room and watch TV or play some video games whilst I take your bag to your room and do a few things around the house before we go to dinner.”

“Okay mom, but I can take my bag up, I’m going to get changed before I play some games,” Henry got up from the table, making his way to his room. 

Regina spent the next hour and half cleaning around the house and doing other house chores she wanted to get done before she went through to the lounge room to tell Henry to get ready for dinner.

Walking into the lounge, it took a moment for the mayor to locate her son, laying down on the couch, asleep with a blanket over him. Not having the heart to wake him earlier than necessary, Regina popped upstairs to have a shower and get changed, gently shaking Henry awake as she gathered her purse and handbag, ready to go out to Granny’s. 

Rubbing sleep from his eye, Henry slowly followed his mother out to the car, glad he got changed before he fell asleep on the couch. 

The Mercedes was quiet on the short car ride over to the diner. Regina pulled in to the closest park so Henry would not have to walk far. As soon as the boy entered the diner, he immediately saw Emma and her girlfriends, and hobbled quickly over to the ladies, hugging them. 

The ladies greeted the boy, all checking on his foot. Regina followed her son in and sat down next to Maura, opposite the officers. Reaching for a menu, despite the fact she knew everything on there, Regina looked over it, deciding if she wanted her normal salad, or a burger with Henry.

Whilst she made her decision, Regina listened to her son barrage the other women with the questions he’d asked Regina in the car. She looked up though when she heard Jane call her name. 

“Regina, can I talk with you quickly outside, please?” the detective asked with a smile. 

Nodding, Regina and Jane, who had swapped places with Henry to sit on the outside of the booth, made their way outside.

“Is everything okay?” Regina asked her. 

“Yeah, I just wanted to give you a heads up before we tell Henry, Maura and I have decided to move here, regardless of whether our applications for the Deputy’s spot and Maura’s clinic gets approved. We don’t want to be away from Emma any more than necessary and we’ve already spent too long apart,” Jane informed the mayor.

Even though Regina knew this was a possibility, she still wasn’t ready to hear new people were moving to her town, possibly threatening her curse. She took a seat at one of the outside tables, and took a deep breath.

“We don’t want to overwhelm you but we made the decision after our meeting this morning. We actually went house hunting yesterday, we found a house and we’ve got the paperwork upstairs to sign to buy it. I know it’s a big ask, but would you be able to notarise our signatures whilst Maura looks at Henry’s foot?” Jane queried.

Wanting to do better for her son, Regina agreed to sign the documents for the women, especially because one of them was proving free medical attention to him. 

Going back inside after their quick conversation, Jane gave Emma a small nod, letting her know she was free to tell Henry about the impending move. 

Henry squealed for the second time in excitement as he heard the news, chatting excitedly about what colour he wanted to paint his room. 

“Hold your horses there young man, you live with your mom, not us,” Emma caught him before he made further grand plans, also catching the grateful look Regina shot her when she spoke. “If it’s okay with your mom, you can come over and visit after school but you live with your mom, okay?”

Sulking a bit, Henry grumbled, “But you have a whole big house, why can’t I have just one room?”

“Henry,” Jane took over, trying to help, “as Emma said, your room is at your moms house, not ours. If you keep pushing the point, I won’t let you come over at all, okay?”

Henry looked shocked at Jane taking the hard line with him. Regina though, sent another grateful look across the table, thankful for not being seen as the bad guy for once. She did agree with the ladies though, Henry lived with her. 

“Henry Daniel Mills,” Regina intoned for the second time that afternoon, “don’t be rude to the ladies, you live with me. If you keep sulking, you won’t get your burger, you will have a salad,” Regina threatened as Ruby came to take their orders. 

“I’m sorry Emma, I’m sorry Jane.”

“And Maura?” Regina raised one eyebrow.

“I’m sorry Maura.”

After the round of apologies, Regina relented and let Henry order his burger, also deciding to go with a chicken burger with salad. 

Turns out, the whole table ordered burgers. It was a good meal with Jane making it her mission to cause the Mayor to laugh, remembering the magical sound from the morning. She eventually got her wish, smiling shyly at the mayor whilst she laughed at an adult joke Jane made that went right over Henry’s head. 

By the time the dinner was finished, and added to Regina’s tab at the brunettes instance, Henry’s eyelids were again drooping. 

Jane carried the sleepy boy up the stairs to their room at the BnB so Maura could change the bandage, Regina thanking her profusely for doing so.

With Henry sleeping on the ladies bed, the four women sat down at the small table so Regina could notarise their signatures on their house paperwork. 

Leaving the BnB, Emma having carried Henry down the stairs, Regina thought, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad with the beautiful women moving in to her town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recall the exact same conversations about maths and calculators when I was in school and doing homework, I'm sure a few of you guys did too!


	30. Goodbye For Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to HoneyCripsApples for reminding me about the wine bottles… wonder no longer!

Wednesday afternoon, Regina signed the proposal made by Maura to open a Practice in town, and Jane’s Deputy Sheriff application had been approved. 

Thursday found the very happy women looking into vacant buildings Maura could use for her practice but there didn’t seem to be any appropriately sized buildings for reasonable rent they could find. 

Jane, smartly, had suggested they convert the spacious garage in the back of the newly approved houses yard over on 10th Street West. 

Marco had been commissioned to conduct the renovations as soon as the houses paperwork was approved. The master bathroom was being converted to reflect the triple bathroom the ladies had in Boston, Marco was building the women a king size bed to go in the master bedroom and he was also converting the garage to a workable doctors office for Maura. In her spare time in Storybrooke, Emma was helping Marco and August complete the requested work. For now, Emma was still residing with Mary Margaret and would officially move into the new house when Jane and Maura moved to town. 

On the last night, Saturday night, Jane and Maura spent in Storybrooke, they planned to have a goodbye dinner at Granny’s with Mary Margret, Ruby and of course, Henry and Regina. 

Maura was also going to remove Henry’s stitches before he went so Regina wouldn’t have to take him to the hospital in two days time. They were coming out a couple of days early but Maura had a little pack of butterfly bandages to give to Regina to keep the healing wound together for another week. 

Turns out, a lot of people from the town had come to farewell the two no-longer strangers for a short time. Mary Margaret was there, as was David and his apparent wife Katherine, Ruby, Ashleigh, and of course, Granny. Regina and Henry were the first of the group to arrive and helped Granny and Ruby dress the diner for the small farewell dinner that turned into a party. 

The party was a loud affair with the townspeople looking forward to soon having new people move in. They were happy to be getting another police officer and a proper doctor to town.

Even though Ruby and Granny worked and ran the diner, the four women and Henry helped them pack and clean up after the guests had left. Out the back in the kitchen, Ruby snuck Henry a chocolate sundae when his mother was in the front of the diner talking to Katherine. Their secret was busted though when Henry forgot to wipe the chocolate off his mouth before going back to his mom. Needless to say, Regina was not impressed with the repressed wolfs actions. 

Jane though, high fived Henry at being able to sneak in a dessert, earning herself a minor glare from the mayor. 

With the diner cleared, Regina and Henry followed Maura, Emma and Jane up to the ladies room for the doctor to remove the stitches. 

Unwrapping the boys foot, Maura was happy with the progress of the wound, happy that with the right application and carefulness on Henrys part, the wound would be fine with the stitches coming out early. 

“Regina, I’ll show you how to apply these butterfly strips and remove them without damaging the healing process,” Maura instructed the mother on how to finish the care for the wound, “I suggest keeping these strips on for at least five days but if you feel the wound could use a for more days after that, it’s up to you. I’ll give you ten days worth of strips, they’re individually wrapped so if you don’t use them all, you can keep them in your medical kit. I’m sure they will come in handy again.”

“Thank you very much Maura, I really do appreciate you doing this for us,” Regina smiled. 

“Yeah, thank you Doctor Maura,” Henry hugged the doc as he wriggled down off the bed. 

“You’re most welcome. Whilst you are here though, Regina, can you look at these wine bottles for us?” Maura walked over to the small table in the room. “We found a cellar basement in the new house, all it had in it was a large wine rack with about thirty bottles of what I’m presuming to be wine, but they have no labels . The bottles are marked, maybe engraved, but I have never seen bottles like this. Does Storybrooke make wine?”

Jane, who was sitting at the table whilst Maura worked, handed up the one of three wine bottles the women decided to take with them from the house to look further into to the Mayor.

Taking the full bottle from Jane’s hand, Regina’s fingers brushed the other brunettes fingers as they made the exchange. Neither could quite keep the smile of their faces at the minor touching, they didn’t know why though. 

Regina lifted the bottle to be in her eye line, wiping the dust off the bottle as she did so.

Regina knew exactly where that bottle came from, and probably the others in the 10th Street West house. 

The Enchanted Forrest. 

Somehow, a cellar must have come over in the curse, but because the house had been for sale for twenty-eight and a half years, no one had any reason to go down to the cellar to even find the bottles. 

In Regina’s kingdom, there was a wine maker, a very talented female vintner, Helena, who could make wine out of most fruits. The Evil Queen herself provided apples from her very own apple tree to the winery to make apple wine, despite the fact the Queen could make her cider. 

Regina sent for the apple wine to be made for something different to drink occasionally from her own cider. Sometimes it was nice not to have to do the work herself. She paid Helena well for her work, getting a shipment of twelve bottles of wine a year. 

Never again did the mayor ever think she would be holding a bottle of the vintners wine. She wondered if there was any of the apple wine in the cellar, a girl could hope. Some people hope too much though. 

Needing to give the women a passable answer, Regina replied, “Many years ago, the town had a vineyard and a vintner who turned any fruit to wine. I didn’t even know there were any bottles left in town, the vineyard closed and sold nearly thirty years ago. Not many people remember there was a vineyard because the wine isn’t around any more. You ladies may have very well bought the vintners house where they stocked their personal stash. As for the missing labels, I cannot answer that question.”

The three women accepted the mayors explanation, Maura offering Regina to come and look at the bottles herself when they moved into the house. 

“I would love that,” Regina smiled at the thoughtfulness of the doctor, she couldn’t wait to see if there was any apple wine there. How she missed that wine. 

“Yeah, when we move in, you and Henry should come around for dinner, Henry can check out our games room, or what is going to be our games room, and you can have a look at the wine with Maura,” Jane offered the Mills’.

“Yes!” Henry cheered, “Mom, can we? Can we, Mom?”

“Of course we can, my prince,” Regina smiled as she ran her fingers through Henry’s hair, causing the boy to shake off the wandering hand, “but for now, we must let the ladies go to bed, Jane and Maura have a big drive ahead of them tomorrow.”

“Okay, thank you Maura for fixing my foot,” Henry hugged her again, “and thank you Jane for looking after me when I was hurt,” also hugging Jane. 

“You are most welcome little man,” Jane ruffled Henry’s hair, just because he pulled away from Regina’s touch, hoping to make the mayor laugh again. 

She did, as she watched Henry run straight to the mirror to flatten his hair out again. 

“Yes, thank you both for everything, we will see you in a few weeks time,” Regina said, picking up her hand bag. 

Being bold, Jane walked over the mayor, and placed a very brief, very chaste kiss in the brunettes cheek, saying her own goodbye to the intriguing woman. 

Blushing, Regina ducked her head, trying to hide her shy smile slightly red cheeks from the taller woman. 

Maura too, took Jane’s lead, pecking the mayors other cheek, whispering, “Goodbye Regina,” in the brunettes ear as she pulled back. 

Emma though didn’t want to try her luck, waving goodbye from the centre of the room. As soon as the door was shut though, she rounded on her girlfriends, “What the hell was that you two?”

“What?” Jane asked innocently, ignoring the glare from the blonde, “I wanted to gauge her reaction, she’s been watching us for over a week, I’ve caught her staring at the three of us and our interactions, she hasn’t freaked out, scrunched her face up or had any other adverse reaction to our relationship.”

“So what? You wanna asked Regina to join our relationship, is that what you were gauging?” Emma asked, not sure if she was put out at the thought or not.

“Emma, darling, I don’t think Jane meant anything by what she says, I was curious too. Regina is a beautiful lady, and she does have some good qualities. Are you opposed to the idea?” Maura asked in turn. 

“No, but I just don’t want things to get complicated, Regina is Henry’s mother. I love you two, I’m sure I could love more but I don’t want to risk losing time with Henry over a fling,” Emma admitted her fears. She had thought about the mayors beauty, had thought the same as Maura, that she does have good qualities. Hell, she had also even thought about asking permission to court Regina. But it all came with one very big risk. A ten year old risk. 

“Emma, babe,” Jane spoke to get Emma out of her thoughts, “I remember how scared I was to talk to Maura about my feelings for you. It worked out for us. I don’t want you to be afraid to talk to us if you develop feelings for Regina. As I said, she is beautiful, she doesn’t seem freaked by our situation, and she really does love her boy. If you want to ask Regina how she would feel coming into a relationship with us, we aren’t going to stop you. I think Maura will agree with me here, we don’t mind. I actually think it could work out well,” Jane finished, taking Emma’s hand in hers and running her thumb over Emma’s knuckles in a soothing manner. 

“I just don’t want to lose any access Regina allows me to have to Henry,” Emma whispered.

“Okay,” Maura replied, picking up Emma’s other hand, “we won’t say or do anything unless, or until, you feel you want to. You know we won’t do anything you are not comfortable with. Emma, this decision has to be agreed on by the three of us. I’m not saying this to pressure you, but so you know we won’t do anything you don’t want to do, okay?”

Nodding, Emma proposed, “Okay, I do like Regina too, that way. How ‘bout this, we wait until you two move here, we’ll see how we go for a few weeks with Regina, and if she’s giving any signs that she might want to be involved, I’ll talk to her. Does that sound okay to you two?”

“It sounds perfect baby,” Jane nodded. 

“Of course darling,” Maura agreed. 

The trio went to bed shortly after, all sharing a dream of their trio becoming a quartet.


	31. Telling the Rizzoli's

After a tearful goodbye, at least they could say goodbye this time, the doctor and the detective were driving back to Boston, leaving their Sheriff in Storybrooke. 

Maura and Jane were sad to leave, but happy in the knowledge they would be returning within a relatively short time period. They left after an early breakfast, Jane calling her mother from the road to organise a family dinner that night, the two women expecting to be back at home by four o’clock in the afternoon. 

The drive was subdued, not as exciting as the drive to Maine was. Jane drove most of the way, Maura driving the last hour into into Boston.

Arriving home just before four, Jane and Maura walked into their house to see Angela cooking in the kitchen, getting ready for dinner. 

“Hi girls, welcome home,” Angela greeted them, walking over to hug them both, “do you want a drink or something?”

“I’ll make coffee,” Maura offered as Jane quickly raced the bags upstairs to their room. 

Breathing in the heavenly scent of her girlfriends coffee as she walked down the stairs, Jane made her way over to the kitchen and started helping Angela as Maura finished the beverages.

“Whatcha making Ma?” Jane asked as she stirred a pot of potatoes boiling.

“Gnocchi with meat sauce and garlic bread, and a garden salad,” Angela replied as she prepared the salad, “why do you want the family over for dinner tonight?”

“Can’t I just miss my family and want to see them?” Jane asked with a sly smile.

Looking at Jane with a raised eyebrow, Angela didn’t bother to reply to her daughters sarcastic query and turned to speak to Maura who’d finished the coffees. 

“Did you like Storybrooke, Maura?”

“Yes, very much, it is a nice little town. It was great to see Emma again, I missed her so much. We met Henry’s mother, Regina. She was a little stand-off-ish to start with, which was reasonable, but after we started to get to know it other, she is an amazing woman. Henry is lucky to have her as his mother,” Maura answered.

“That’s good. Why don’t the two of you go upstairs for a sleep, you must be tired after that long drive. I’ll call you to wake you up before the boys get here with TJ. He’s very excited to see you two,” Angela informed the ladies as they finished their coffees and left the kitchen.

Whilst Jane immediately lay down on the bed to indeed have a nap, Maura quietly moved around the room clearing their suitcases. She lay next to Jane once her task was complete, but found she couldn’t fall asleep quite as easily as her detective could. 

The doctor found her thoughts consumed by another brunette, the time they spent together whilst at Storybrooke. Especially their ride, hopefully with moving there, Maura would be able to make more time in her life to ride horses. 

Who knows, maybe riding will be something she and Regina will share together. 

Resolving to message the brunette, just to let her know she and Jane made it safely home, Maura gently crawled out from under Jane’s arm she found herself under to pick her phone up from the bedside table. 

Clicking the phone onto silent so it wouldn’t disturb Jane, Maura quickly typed out a short message to Regina before rolling back into Jane’s body and falling asleep before her phone pinged a reply. 

Sure enough, Angela rang Jane’s phone to wake the pair up ten minutes before her brothers and nephew were due to arrive. As the ladies sat up, Maura checked her phone and saw Regina had replied. She showed Jane the text and the pair read it together. 

‘Thank you for letting me know. It was lovely to meet you both, and thank you again for looking after Henry’s foot, Regina.’

Jane smiled, glad that Regina seemed open to possible communication by text message whilst she and Maura were in Boston. 

Freshening up, Jane and Maura went down stairs just as they heard the front door open, Tommy carrying a sleeping TJ into the house with Frank Jr behind him. 

The boys went over to their sister and sister-in-law, giving them both hugs and welcoming them home. Tommy transferred TJ into Jane’s arms and watched as his big sister carried the boy around until it was time to wake him up for his dinner. 

The five-year-old had the biggest grin on his face at seeing his Aunts again, refusing to be separated from Jane by more than an inch for the rest of the night. 

As the Rizzoli clan and Maura ate the delicious meal prepared by Angela, Jane spoke up. 

“Ma was suspicious when I asked for us all to have a family meal tonight, and she was right to be. Maura and I have something we’d like to share with you all, and we don’t know if you’ll be happy for us or not,” Jane started, looking around at her family, “Maura and I are moving to Storybrooke, Maine, to be with Emma. I know it’s a big change, but it is what we need, and want, to do for our relationship.”

“I knew it,” Angela sighed, “I knew it the moment you two left here two weeks ago you’d move, didn’t I tell you Frankie?”

“Frank, Ma,” her middle child corrected her usage of the name he’d outgrown, “and yes, you did say it. We are happy for you two, Maura, Jane, we’re just going to miss you.”

“Are you leaving me Auntie Jane because I was naughty?” TJ asked heartbroken, not understanding the conversation the adults were having. 

“No Little Buddy, certainly not, when were you naughty?”

“Last week, I didn’t want to eat my peas, I put them in the doggy’s bowl, but Daddy saw me,” TJ confessed, having been in charge of looking after Jo Friday while Jane was gone.

“And did Jo Friday eat the peas?” Jane asked, smiling at TJ’s behaviour, the boy not knowing he’d followed exactly in his fathers footsteps when he was a child and didn’t want to eat veggies. Surely though Tommy hadn’t told TJ that. 

“Yep,” TJ smiled, “but I didn’t get any dessert because I didn’t eat my greens.”

“Well you can have dessert tonight, I think Grandmama Rizzoli may have made you cannolis,” Jane loudly whispered to her nephew with a conspiring grin, the little boys face lighting up at his Aunts words. 

“Why isn’t Emma moving back here?” Tommy asked between bites after Jane finished speaking with TJ. 

“Henry is in Storybrooke, living with his mother, it’s not Emma’s choice or decision where the boy lives, so at the moment, with Regina allowing Emma to see him, Emma is doing right by Regina as much as she can and staying in Storybrooke. If Henry decides to move to Boston when he’s old enough to make his own decisions and move out of home, then Emma may move back, but for now, she’s Maine bound,” Maura explained.

“It’s fair enough Emma moving there for her son, but why do you two have to move too, you both love your jobs here, your family is here!” Frank asked, not happy at losing the close family he’s always been accustomed to.

“Firstly, Henry is Regina’s son, think of Emma more like a far distant Aunt at best, she gave him up for adoption at birth, giving away all of her parental rights. If Henry hadn’t stolen his teachers credit card, Emma would not even know she gave birth to a boy, let alone that he lives in Maine. Secondly, Maura and I love Emma, we go where she goes. We will still come back and visit, it’s not like we aren’t ever going to see you guys again. As for our jobs, I’m still going to be a police officer, but as Emma’s Deputy, and Maura is excited to open a small doctors office,” Jane informed her family of their plans. 

Though she was quiet throughout dinner, Ma Rizzoli spoke more about her daughters move when her sons and grandson left the house. 

“When did you two decide to leave Boston?” she started out with a gentle question. 

Sitting on the couch cuddled into Maura, Jane answered her mother who was sitting on the recliner off to her side, “On Monday, Ma, we miss Emma too much to be away from her much longer.”

Nodding, Angela asked, “What about me, what about my living arrangements? Do I move out and find somewhere else to live?”

“Angela, no, of course you will stay where you are. I wouldn’t dream of having you leave. The three of us have thought about what to do with this house, and we’ve made a decision. We are going to keep this house as it is for us to use whenever we come back to Boston. If you could just keep it clean for us, we’re happy to pay you to do so,” Maura tried to ease Angela’s worries. 

“Yeah Ma, the granny flat is all yours, you never have to leave if you don’t want to,” Jane added.

Angela thought about what the pair had said before thanking them. 

“Ma, I have to say, you are a lot more relaxed about us moving than I thought you would be, I was expecting fireworks,” Jane admitted.

Smiling at her daughter, Angela answered, “You love fiercely Jane Clementine Rizzoli, I would never stand in the way of you being with the women you love, you know that. I figured sooner or later, you would move to Maine for Emma. I have no grudges against that, so long as it make you happy.”

“Aw Ma,” Jane hugged her mom, tears in her eyes at the matriarchs words. Maura too, hugged Angela hearing those words, knowing they were for her too. 

“Plus, I figure you are going to be a lot safer policing a small, quiet town rather than chasing down murderers every other day. I’ve made my peace with what and your brother choose do to, but I still worry. Now, I can worry a little less,” Angela told her daughter when they moved apart again.

The women finished their drinks they were nursing as they continued to talk about the move, Jane genuinely surprised Angela was okay with it. 

As Jane and Maura went to bed that night, they FaceTimed Emma to tell her about the family dinner, Emma filling the ladies in on her day after they left, and boy what a day it had been.

Emma had gone from living with Mary Margaret as her housemate, to arresting her as a murder suspect. 

“I wish I was there to help you, babe, that’s my bread and butter,” Jane commented after expressing shock and disbelief that the kindly school teacher she and Maura had gotten to know over their two weeks in Storybrooke would be a murder suspect. 

“I’m sure it will work itself out in the end Emma,” Maura added, trying to help the Sheriff cope with the hard day. 

“I know you two only left this morning but already I miss you two so much,” Emma sighed, as she had an incoming call to her phone, causing her to have to leave the conversation with her girlfriends. 

The caller was Mr Gold, wanting to speak with Mary Margaret, acting as the teachers lawyer. 

“I’ll meet you at the station in ten minutes,” Emma told him, glancing at her watch, realising it was nearly nine in the evening, sending Jane and Maura a good night text to finish their interrupted call. 

This is going to be a long night, the Sheriff thought.


	32. A Kidnapped Sheriff

“Sheriff, join me please,” an accented voice beckoned Emma further into the Sheriffs Station than the hallway she was conversing with Henry in. 

Walking through to the office and cells, Emma was confronted by the pawn brokers back and an empty cell. 

Cursing under her breath, Emma spoke with Gold about getting her housemate back, sending Henry home in the process, no time for his fairy tale input now. 

Racing out to her bug, determined to save her friend from further trouble, Emma drove the streets of Storybrooke, past an empty Granny’s, past their darkened loft, even out to the school, but there was no sign of the missing teacher. 

Making her way to the outskirts of town, Emma drove along the empty forrest paths. Or empty she thought. 

Rounding a bend in the fog, looking out the passengers window trying to spot Mary Margaret, Emma’s eyes caught a sight of a tall man in a dark coat on the side of the ride, nearly in the path of her car. Emma swerved to not hit the man but he was sent tumbling down a small embankment into the dirt. 

She slammed on the breaks and got out to help the man, conversing with him briefly before realising he was hurt, a twisted ankle. 

Emma insisted on driving the man home, introducing herself and obtaining the name of the hurt man, Jefferson. 

It was only a small drive to Jefferson’s mansion, Emma admiring the big stone building. 

Being the good Sheriff, and apologising for running Jefferson off the road, Emma went inside and accepted a quick cup of tea whilst Jefferson showed her a map of the area.

As she was looking at the map, Emma’s vision was blurring, her head becoming dizzy. Jefferson helped her lay down on the couch and gave up the good person act, dropping the limp as Emma realised she had been poisoned, asking the man who he really was before losing consciousness.

Emma did not know for how long she was unconscious in the mansion, but as she came to, still on the couch he’d laid her down on, Emma realised not only were her hands tied behind her back, she was also gagged. 

Looking around the living room, Emma spotted the tea cup still on the carpet where it dropped from her previously weak hands. She managed to break the cup to use as a knife to cut her hands free and started looking around the lounge room for a way out. 

Her attention was caught by a telescope, the view of which was set on the Sheriffs Station. 

Weary now of the man who had obviously done his research, Emma opened a door quietly and saw the man who named himself as Jefferson. sharpening a tool in the next room over. 

Closing the door again, Emma snuck through another part of the house, trying to find and exit. A creaky floor board made Emma hasten to behind a close closed door, hiding in the room away from Jefferson. As Emma shut the door behind her, a gasp from the centre of the room made her spin around. 

In the centre was her missing housemate, bound and gagged in a chair. What sought of hell hole were they in?!

Helping Mary Margaret out of the chair, they women exchanged their stories of how they ended up in Jefferson’s mansion. 

Unfortunately, as soon as the pair made their way out of the room, Jefferson held them both at gun point, calling Emma’s bluff and making her tie her housemate back onto the chair she was in two minutes ago. 

Aiming to not get herself or Mary Margaret shot, Emma went with Jefferson, him pushing her into a room filled with hats and equipment to make said hats. 

The man sounded just like Henry, telling Emma all about the curse and magic, and how Henry’s book is correct. 

Having had enough talking, Jefferson set Emma to work, making his hat work its magic. She hadn’t the foggiest idea how to make a hat, let alone make a magic hat. 

Jefferson spoke philosophically to Emma whilst imploring her to get to work with the hat, threatening Emma and Mary Margarets freedom for the hat to be made, stating he wanted to get home. 

As Emma started trying to furnish his hat, Jefferson spoke about his daughter, Grace, who was living with another family, going by the name of Paige, all because of the supposed Evil Queen, Regina’s, curse. 

‘This man needs serious help,’ Emma thought, trying to not make Jefferson more dangerous than he already seemed to be. 

Wanting to find even ground with him, Emma spoke to Jefferson about being a parent without their child. She spoke about wanting to believe she has family, real family, and accepting the curse. All to fool Jefferson into a false sense of security, allowing her and Mary Margaret to escape. It didn’t quite work though as, during the escape attempt, Jefferson and Emma ended up fighting for a gun, just for Mary Margaret to essentially throw Jefferson out of a window, providing her and Emma with a means to leave the haunted house.

At the end of the drama with Jefferson, Emma and Mary Margaret had a heartfelt conversation about family, Mary Margaret agreeing for Emma to take her back into custody for the arraignment.

The blonde Sheriff dropped her housemate off in the cells, leaving her with Mr Gold before racing to the school to let Henry know his teacher was safe and sound, as sound as she can be in a cell. 

After a few more minutes with Henry at the school, Emma walked away from the large building, story book in hand, walking back to the bug, and home for a sleep, as she would have nothing to do with the actual arraignment now that Mary Margaret had returned.

The Sheriff quickly made a quick snack as she rang Jane and Maura as the pair were getting ready to go to their respective works for the first time after announcing their leave. 

“How did you go last night?” Jane immediately asked.

“Not good, Mary Margaret somehow escaped the cell and then was kidnapped by a psychopath before I was, I listened to a night of crazy before we ere able to get away to get Mary Margaret returned before anyone else noticed her missing,” Emma summed up her night quickly to gasps from her girlfriends. 

“What the fuck?” Jane loudly asked, “Are you okay? Is she okay?”

“We’re fine,” Emma downplayed the night, not wanting to worry the ladies on the other end of the phone more than they already were, “we got away when he fell through a window and disappeared. We weren’t hurt, other than being chloroformed.”“Darling, what do to mean you listened to a night of crazy?” Maura asked her question once Emma had gone quiet again. 

Swallowing the toast she was eating before answering, Emma replied, “The guy in that house, Jefferson he said his name was, I’ve never heard of him, sounded like he’d been hanging out with Henry. He kept trying to tell me the curse was real, I am the saviour, I need to give him back his happy ending and bring magic to Storybrooke. He thinks he is the Mad Hatter was ‘Alice in Wonderland’, he had a room full of hats and all the equipment to make hats. That’s why he drugged me, he wanted me to make a hat to send him home with a girl he’s been spying on, saying she is his daughter called Grace. The girl lives with her family, her name is Paige, she’s in Henry’s class as school. I think I need a beer and a sleep after last night, it was ridiculous.”

Jane and Maura were stunned into silence at the fact a grown man was convinced he was a fairy tale character. 

What sort of town were they moving to?

“Emma, dear, have your toast, drink a beer, and get some sleep, okay? Call us when you wake up and let us know how Mary Margaret went,” Maura suggested, commanded, her tired girlfriend. 

“That sounds like a brilliant idea,” Emma agreed, “good luck, both of you, when you speak with the Governor and Lieutenant about leaving.”

“Thanks babe, you have a good sleep and enjoy the A.M. beers, I can’t remember the last time I had beer for breakfast,” Jane commented.

It was not unusual for shift workers, especially police officers to have a drink when they knocked off work, even if they were finishing a night shift. 

In her rookie year, Jane had a great partner who looked after her, teaching the rookie everything he could. Even that it was okay to partake in A.M. beers after work, so long as she had food with it. 

“I’ll make you beer pancakes when you get up here, we can drink the leftover with breakfast,” Emma laughed, longing for the fluffy pancakes Angela could make, “I’ll get the recipe off your mom.”

“I look forward to it hun, now, go and get some sleep,” Jane said. 

“You aren’t my mom, you can’t tell me what to do!” Emma fake sulked at Jane’s instructions, a running joke between the pair. 

“No, I can’t, but I do need to go to work, so I need to leave,” Jane countered.

“Alright, good nights darlings,” Emma said before hanging up the phone. 

The blonde sheriff never got the chance to down a beer before going up to her bed, falling asleep on the couch once the phone call was ended.


	33. Metal Detective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter today, hopefully should be back to full length next week

After speaking to Emma the phone, Maura went downstairs and started coffee porn before an impatient Jane made a cup of instant coffee, much to Maura’s disgust. 

The pairs exchange was halted by a murder call, prompting them both to quickly finish getting dressed before attending the scene and speaking to an obnoxious real estate agent. 

Maura conduced her examination of a right ear caught in a gate latch before Jane put the pieces together, realising the possibility of a body in a bin. 

True to Jane’s instinct, they discovered a robed and masked body in a blue wheelie bin, missing it’s right ear. 

As Maura’s team transported the body back to the morgue, she left the murder scene to attend the Governor’s office to discuss her resignation whilst Jane hitched a lift with Korsak and Frost back to BPD, making Frost sit in the back seat. Korsak was one of the only people Jane wouldn’t throw out of the drivers seat of a vehicle. 

Maura made her appointment on time with the Governor who acknowledged Maura’s resignation with it’s due respect. Maura and the Governor spoke for an hour, agreeing to advertise the Chief Medical Examiner position country-wide. Though Maura personally recommended Kent for the position, the opportunity had to be offered to all qualified medical examiners in the country, so as not to appear to have favourites. 

Maura agreed to remain in the position for as long as it took to appoint a suitable replacement and train them up to Maura’s high satisfaction. She had run the department successfully for over six years, she wasn’t going to let any old person come in and ruin her hard work. 

With her meeting done, Maura raced across town back to the morgue to conduct the autopsy, meeting Jane who’d just come from her meeting with Lieutenant Cavanaugh, also a quick meeting having discussed most information over the phone. 

As Jane’s position wasn’t as fluid as Maura’s, she provided a firm resignation date three weeks from now. 

Whilst Maura was doing what she did best in the morgue, Jane discussed with her her plan of attack for packing up their house. As the ladies weren’t selling the house and planned to stay there on occasion, most of the furniture could stay, the ladies only taking the essential furniture they needed. 

Maura agreed with Jane’s plan to pack a box a day until they had a definite date they would leave so whenever that was, they wouldn’t be overwhelmed with packing. 

Jane also told Maura she planned on hiring a small removal truck she could drive up to Maine herself. If she hired it in Maine and drove it down to Boston to take back up full, she wouldn’t have to drive back to Boston once the truck was emptied. 

It was roundabout thinking, but it was a solid plan. 

With the autopsy complete, Jane, Korsak and Frost continued with their investigation as Maura furnished the job advertisement for her position to send through to the Governor. 

As the investigation continued, the trio of detectives were more intrigued about the situation in which their financial consultant was killed. 

The detectives, and Frankie, interviewed various people associated with their victim and were able to deduce he was involved in a secret sex club, in part organised by the less than friendly former prostitute turned real estate agent. 

Utilising undercover work, Jane and Maura went to the next parties as waitresses in their own masks to protect their identity. 

Slowly working the room, Jane spent the night stealing womens blonde hairs whilst Maura tested the samples. 

Hearing screams, Jane rushed to the pool area finding their real estate agent dead in the pool, leading the pair back to the autopsy suit. 

With the investigation complete, Jane and Frost made their arrests one for embezzlement, one for murder. 

With a successful investigation under their belt the officers and their medical examiner went to The Dirty Robber to celebrate their win, one of few remaining in the month left of their working together.

“I’m going to miss this,” Korsak commented as he shouted a round of drinks for their table.

“We will too,” Jane smiled sadly, “but we need to go to be with Emma.”

“I know, and you know I will support the three of you, whatever you do,” Korsak patted his best detectives back.

“At least we have time to get used to the idea of not being together all the time,” Frost commented, drinking his beer quietly.

“I know you guys aren’t leaving yet, but here’s to Jane and Maura,” Frankie toasted, raising his glass in salute to his sister and sister-in-law. 

All clinked their glasses together, enjoying the night of relaxation after a hard few days of work. 

Returning home somewhat melancholy, Jane and Maura decided that tonight was the night to start Jane’s packing plan, each filling a box of less important things for their move, stacking the boxes neatly in the spare bedroom next to the master suit. 

Wrapping her arm around Maura’s shoulder, Jane kissed the side of her girlfriends head and murmured, “And so it begins.”

“So it does,” Maura answered quietly, acknowledging the big change in their lives. 

“I can’t wait to be with Emma, I think this move will be good for us.”

“Me too, but for now, I’m think it’s bed time.”

The pair went to bed after calling their missing girlfriend, tired from the rewarding day. 

Little did they know, the next few weeks would be tiring in itself organising their move, but at least they have their happy ending in sight, with further happiness on the horizon.


	34. Upset and Exhausted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve used creative licence to change who was behind the whole Mary-Margaret murdering Katherine set up, still the same scenario, just different bad guy in the end…

The next few days in Storybrooke were a roller coaster for the Sheriff. 

After rushing to have Mary Margaret back in her cell for the arraignment for the murder of one Katherine Nolan, said Katherine Nolan was located by Ruby in the back parking of Granny’s Diner. 

The paperwork to release her roommate took Emma forever as she had to first obtain a statement from Katherine about what happened, she had to get a statement from Ruby about the state she found Katherine in, and after all that was done, had to file a Notice to Withdraw a charge at the register in City Hall, making it with five minutes to spare before closing time. 

Emma raced back to the Sheriffs Station to finally release her friend, two long days after she had to arrest her in the first place. 

“I’m so sorry, Mary Margaret,” Emma murmured as she opened the heavy metal cell door, stepping aside to allow the free woman to exit. 

“Emma, it’s not your fault, I’m not angry at you,” Mary Margaret soothed her friend, closing then distance between them to wrap the Sheriff in a hug, “I just hope we can get to the bottom of this."

“We will, I promise,” Emma swore, “but for now, how about some Granny’s? I think we could both use a drink.”

“Yes, very true.”

The two women left the Sheriffs office, having had enough of it for the day, and made their way quietly to the diner, both losing for a drink after a trying few days. 

Walking into the diner, the eatery went quiet on seeing who’d just arrived, most people staring, some pointing. 

It was only when Granny employed her best ‘Granny Voice’, telling everyone to get back to their food and mind their own business, did Emma and Mary Margaret walk further into the establishment, taking a seat in a booth at the back.

Ruby came straight over with menus, despite the pair already knowing what they were going to order. Politely declining the menus, Emma ordered a burger for herself, as well as beers and shots for both herself and Mary Margaret. 

Mary Margaret ordered her food, a burger too, before she started to tell Emma about her suspicious of who was responsible for her being arrested. 

Mary Margaret was convinced Regina was behind her imprisonment, but so far, Emma hadn’t been able to find any actual evidence of Regina setting up her roommate, only the fact Regina had been there throughout the investigation and seemingly not liking Mary Margaret.

Whilst the pair discussed the teachers incarceration, a certain motorbike riding author appeared at their table, wanting to catch up with the Sheriff.

After listening to Mary Margaret air her concerns about the Mayor getting into her loft again, August offered to come by the loft the next day to install a new lock on the door. 

As Emma and Mary Margaret paid their bill, agreeing for August to come by tomorrow, the Sheriff received a call beckoning her to return to the station. 

Mary Margaret left the diner towards home whilst Emma then left for work, August accompanying the teacher home to make sure she got there safely. 

Arriving at the Sheriffs Station, Emma was greeted by Regina, stating she had a confession to Katherines abduction, providing Sydney Glass as the criminal mastermind. 

Though Emma didn’t believe a word of the mans speech, she would still have to investigate his claims. Not helping his predicament, Sydney produced all of the evidence that pointed to him being the responsible person for the last few days events. 

Without an option otherwise, Emma had to charge Sydney with the offences, spending a further few hours at the Sheriffs Station to complete the necessary paperwork. 

Why Regina brought Sydney in at nine o’clock at night was beyond Emma’s comprehension. 

Getting only a few hours sleep after she eventually got home, Emma woke up the next morning to the sounds of August installing the new lock, before having to run out to an ‘Operation Cobra’ emergency.

Over the course of the day, tumultuous at best, Emma, exhausted of feeling like she was in dark about an unknown something, agreed to go with August ‘to see the big picture’. Maybe then, Emma might have some answers to why strange things kept happening to her, such as having to arrest, then un-arrest, her roommate.

August took her on a motorbike ride, unlike any other, to a very important diner. 

More emotional roller coasting ensued with August trying his hardest to convince Emma the curse Henry spoke of was real, that the answer to his mysterious ‘illness’ was her believing. 

Having had a shitty week, Emma had finally had enough of people, of Henry, of Jefferson, of August, trying to shove the fairy tale nonsense down her throat. 

She stormed out of the forest realising her only way back to Storybrooke was Augusts motorbike.

The sheriff waited on the front of the bike, giving its owner ten minutes before she herself drove the bike home, alone. 

Luckily for August, he got to Emma on time, and she still drove the bike back with August on the back.

Emma didn’t say anything to August when she pulled up out front of her loft, just handed back the helmet, not wanting to hear anymore about the stupid curse. 

The Sheriff made her way upstarts and opened a bottle of beer before Face Timing her girlfriends. She needed to hear their calming voices before her head exploded, with the way her brain was working overtime, even thought Maura would say that it was physically impossible fore a head to explode from thoughts alone. 

It took only three rings for Jane and Maura’s faces to fill the screen of Emma’s laptop, both sitting side by side in their bedroom.

The first words out of the doctors mouth were, “Darling, are you okay?”

Those four words caused Emma’s tears, building behind her eyes, to break free and flood down her cheeks.

It broke Maura and Jane’s hearts, watching Emma cry but not being able to do anything about it, other than calling out soothing words over the computer screen. 

After a minute with no let up of tears, Maria excused herself from the screen and disappeared for minute before returning, all unnoticed by a crying Emma. 

Jane raised an eyebrow at her doctor but received no response. 

Eventually Emma managed to calm her tears enough to explain why she was so upset. 

“All these people are telling me to believe in this curse, that the curse is real, that my parents are alive and actually wanted me, that I’ve been living with my mother ever since I moved to town. I don’t believe them, fairy tales are not real, they’re stories, I can’t believe they’re real, because if I do, and they’re not, OI’ve lost my parents again. I can’t do that,” Emma unloaded, rambling everything she’d been thinking whilst driving the motorbike back to Storybrooke. 

Jane tried offering words of comfort to her distraught girlfriend but nothing would make a difference like actually holding Emma in her arms, squeezing her tightly would.

Unbeknownst to Jane, Maura had arranged for a hug to be given to Emma, for at that moment, a knock sounded from the Sheriffs front door. 

Emma opened the door to reveal Henry and Regina, the former rushing to the blonde to hug her, the latter standing there with a worried look on her face. 

After a moment, Emma asked, “What are you doing here?”

“We came to see if you want to have ice cream with us,” Henry excitedly answered. 

“Yes,” Regina concurred, stepping into the apartment and closing the door being herself, silently noting the new lock on the door, “would you like to join us, I have something I want to talk to you about?”

“I’m just on Face Time with Jane and Maura but give me a minute to get ready, I think ice cream might do me some good.”

“Can I say ‘hi’ to them?” Henry asked happily, seeing the laptop opened with two familiar faces on it sitting on the kitchen table. 

“Yeah,” Emma led him over to the table where Jane and Maura had patiently been watching the interaction at the door, “babes, I’m going to go and have ice cream. I’ll leave you with Henry and Regina, I’m just going to get changed.”

Henry spoke to the two women for a moment, updating Maura on how his foot had healed just fine. After a moment thought, Regina sent Henry downstairs with the car keys, asking him to get her jacket from the car, just so she could have a moment alone with the two other women. 

“Thank you for going over Regina,” Maura said, surprising Jane.

“That’s okay, she did look rather upset,” Regina replied. 

“You called Regina?” Jane asked Maura.

“Yes, to go over and cheer Emma up because we couldn’t,” was the doctors no nonsense reply. 

“It was Henry’s idea to go for ice cream,” Regina said as Emma came downstairs, having overheard the part about Maura’s phone call but pretending not to. 

“I’m ready to go,” Emma called. 

“Right then,” Regina said, “let’s go, Henry is down at the car getting a jacket.”

“Okay, goodnight Jane, good night Maura,” Emma said, closing the lid of the laptop and following the mayor downstairs, trying to figure out what it could possibly be that she wants to talk about. 

‘I guess I’ll find out shortly then,’ Emma thought as they walked outside into the cold air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will pick up right where I’ve left off with Regina and Emma, finally SwanQueen getting into gear.   
> My muse has come back to me in the form of writing with pen and paper instead of a keyboard so I hope the flow of this and future chapters is better than the last few. 
> 
> Happy reading :)


	35. A Revealing Walk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive any mistakes, having a head cold is not conducive to good writing.
> 
> But on the plus side, SwanQueen finally appears!

Having said goodbye to Jane and Maura, Emma followed Regina down to where Henry was waiting with Regina’s jacket in hand. 

“Are we driving or walking?” Emma asked. 

“Walking,” Henry said, “because we walk of the ice cream that way.”

At that comment, Emma raised her eyebrows at Regina who immediately offered a response. 

“He doesn’t know what that mens, and I meant that I,” Regina added emphases to the ‘I’, “would be walking off the ice cream.”

Henry, leading the way, was happy to be out of the mansion and spending time with Emma, with permission from Regina, even with Regina accompanying them. 

Following Henry, Regina made sure her voice was low enough it wouldn’t register with the boy but would be heard by the Sheriff, “I wanted to clear up any misunderstanding there may be between us after the Mary Margaret incident.”

“After a very false sounding confession from Sydney, why would you want to speak to me about it?”

“Miss Swan, I assure you, I had nothing to do with it, I suggest, if you think Sydney’s testimony is false, perhaps look at Mr. Gold,” Regina answered, trying to keep her patience in check. 

“Gold worded as Mary Margaret’s attorney, why would he do that if he was behind it?”

“Think about it Emma,” Regina implored the sheriff to see the truth, “she wasn’t released until Sydney came forward, Gold made sure of that. She was in the custody of the state after he failed to secure her release from the arraignment.”

Emma had to admit, that made sense, the more she thought about it. 

Regina though, quietly, was glad Gold trued to remove her nemesis, but not if it came at the cost of the relationship she was trying to rebuild with her son, and build with his birth mother. 

Curious as to why the Mayor suddenly wants to help and engage with her, Emma asked, “Why are you telling me this?”

“I have come to realise, with Jane and Maura moving to town, we are going to be spending more time together, given by their actions when they left town, and to be honest, I would not be opposed to that. As such, I would like to make the effort for you and I to put our differences aside and actually get to know each other. If you are agreeable, of course,” Regina finished her explanation. 

At the mayors words, Emma stopped walking, trying to process what she’d heard. 

After travelling a few steps, Regina realised her walking companion had lagged behind. 

Turning around to face Emma, Regina stepped towards her, watching the blondes face process the brunettes words. 

Taking a breath, Emma started to speak, now that her brain had caught up, “Back up a second, are you suggesting we get to know each other, and that you, Jane, Maura and I get to know each other? In a romantic way?”

Checking over her shoulder to make sure Henry wasn’t eavesdropping on their conversation, or really, Emma’s rambling words, Regina replied, “When you put it like that, I suppose that would be end game.”

“End game?”

“You don’t know the phrase?”

“I do, it’s just weird coming from you.”

“Em-ma,” Regina sighed. 

Smiling, the lady in question murmured, “I do like it when you call me ‘Em-ma’ the way you do.”

The Mayor couldn’t help smiling back at Emma before turning on her heel again to keep walking towards Any Given Sundae. 

Emma caught up to Regina and continued their conversation, “I like your idea,” she said simply.

“Was I right?” Regina grinned.

“About what?”

“Was I right about Jane and Maura’s intention when they kissed me before they left?”

Emma smiled again at Regina before nodding, “Yes, you were right. Jane, obviously, is more forward than Maura, and myself, for that matter, but yes, we like you, Regina.”

“Then why did you stand awkwardly in the middle of the room instead of kissing me as well?” the brunette queried.

Quickly answering the question at the door of the ice cream shop Henry was already inside, Emma said, “Because I didn’t want you to take it the wrong way and stop Henry from seeing me anymore.”

Before Regina could answer, Emma stepped into the shop and started perusing the ice cream flavours. 

Henry again chose his favourite flavour of peppermint chocolate chip, Emma took a while, and two taste tests to settle on Rocky-Road. Regina, last into the shop, had been the first to know what ice cream she wanted, a small cup of vanilla ice cream. 

Henry used his weekly pocket money to pay for the treats, thanking Sarah behind the counter as he left. 

“Mom, can we walk to the pier to eat our ice creams?” Henry asked, thrilled to be out with, to him, both his moms, with the two women not fighting with each other. Over the last few weeks, Henry became more accepting of Regina as his mom, seeing how she was making an effort with both himself and with Emma. 

“I suppose that would be alright,” Regina answered,

Grinning from ear to ear, Henry sped up his walking, staying close enough to not worry the ladies but far enough away to give them relative privacy to continue their talk. 

“You know,” Emma started to speak with a grin on her face, “if you’re serious about seeing if you’d fit into Jane, Maura and my relationship, we’re going to break you out of your ‘vanilla’ shell,” Emma joked, indicating to the brunettes plain ice cream. 

With her own smile, Regina replied, “Maybe that’s just what I need.”

The pair kept walking after Henry, both mildly flirting back and forth.

Emma though, was curious about something, “Regina, I do have to ask, what changed your mind about me? Just over a month ago, I got the impression that you hated me, or at best, severely disliked me. What’s changed between now and then?”

Regina was silent for a moment, trying to figure out how best to answer the question. 

Eventually she answered with, “You are correct in that, when you first got here, I did not want you to stay, so I did my best to make you leave, which obviously backfired spectacularly. I didn’t want you to blow into Henry’s life one week and disappear the next. He’s obviously built up this idea of you being Superwoman and I’d hate for his ideals to be crushed, plus, I was jealous of how much he loved you right from the work ‘go’, unconditionally. I was worried for him. I see now though, that you wouldn’t do anything to hurt him purposely. And I saw how great you, Jane and Maura were with him after the beach accident. With all that, I started to look at you differently, at Jane and Maura differently. The feelings they awoke in me the night before they left, I haven’t felt that in a very long time,” Regina trailed off after begin as honest with Emma that she could.

The blonde wasn’t able to reply though as they’d caught up to Henry at the pier.

They shared glances atop the oblivious ten-year-olds head for the few minutes they remained sea side. 

On the walk back, Regina offered to Emma to have Henry for the night, before offering the boy to stay at Emma’s.

With the sleep over agreed upon, Regina produced her emergency bag of clothes she kept in her car wherever they go when they arrived back at the loft. Regina hugged Henry goodnight before sending him upstairs to clean his teeth and get changed for bed.

“I would like for us to talk some more, Em-ma, if you want to?” Regina asked, somewhat shyly.

“I would like that. How about I bring lunch to your office tomorrow?”

“That would be lovely, see you then,” Regina bid goodbye as she opened her car door.

“Regina?” Emma called out before the brunette could slip into her car. 

The Mayor looked quizzically at her Sheriff. 

Emma stepped up to the Mayor and leaned in to kiss her softly on each cheek, as her girlfriends had done so a week prior. 

“Good night, Regina,” Emma whispered before going upstairs, leaving a speechless Mayor by her car.


	36. A Better Evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who commented on the last chapter, awesome response.
> 
> This is one of the shortest chapters, a filler chapter to launch us into next weeks move...
> 
> And, side note, has everyone heard of the new HBO show, 'Gentleman Jack'? Absolutely fantastic true story show, I can't rave about it enough, having watched every episode so far a bunch of times - seriously watch it if you can. 
> 
> Anyways, happy reading...
> 
> Vespers_Reign.

Whilst Emma had a lot going on in Storybrooke, Jane and Maura too were taking care of their move. 

Maura’s replacement had already been selected by the Governor, who’d decided on Kent, given he’s been working under Maura for a number of years and deserved the promotion. 

It allowed Maura to leave Boston earlier than if she would have to train a new Chief ME, which made Maura happy, given how upset Emma was, sitting in Maine alone. 

As such, aura now had the same finish date as Jane, the end of the next week. They now worked in earnest to pack up what they needed to take to Maine with them. 

That is what the women were doing when they received the teary phone call form Emma.   
Jane didn’t know what Maura had done when she disappeared from the call until Regina spoke about it. 

Once the call ended, Jane turned to Maura, “That was a very good idea Maur, calling Regina to go over.”

“I figured some company would do some good,” the doctor explained, “Regina didn’t have to agree, she could have said ‘no’ when I asked her. I do think the Mayor is warming to our girl.”

“Yes, I think you’re right, she is a ray of sunshine,” Jane smiled, putting an arm around Maura’s shoulder.

“I think that’s the sappiest thing I’ve heard you say in a long time,” Maura laughed. 

Grinning back, Jane suggested they get back to packing up Maura’s office, as they had been a short while ago. 

Angela was more than helpful whilst her daughters packed, preparing then dinners when she could, leaving them frozen meals when she couldn’t.

The Rizzoli matriarch was taking the move very well and knew it would bring immense happiness for her girls, just from the three of them being together. 

Which is why she too was concerned by how upset Emma was on the phone. 

As soon as she heard Jane and Maura packing up again in the office, she knocked on the door to ask Jane how Emma was, having partly heard the video call. 

Smiling at the concern shown by her mother, Jane informed Angela, “Emma is okay now, just missing us, sorry for worrying you.”

“I just heard the crying over the laptop, but I didn’t want to eavesdrop - what?! I didn’t,” Angela insisted at Jane’s raised eyebrow.

“She’s okay, Regina and Henry are taking her out for ice cream,” Maura assured Angela.

It wasn’t that Jane and Maura were lying to the older woman, in not telling her why their girlfriend was unhappy, they just didn’t want to add any confusion about the matter by explaining to Angela about some townspeople believing Storybrooke to be a fairytale place. 

Happy knowing Emma was going to be alright, Angela helped the ladies for another hour, packing and sorting Maura’s office. 

Once the clock struck nine-thirty in the evening, Angela bid Jane and Maura goodnight and left them to return to her own lodgings. 

The two women continued to work for another half an hour before getting ready for bed. 

As they climbed into their king sized bed, Jane’s phone again rang with an incoming FaceTime call from Emma.

Answering the call, Jane held the phone between herself and Maura so Emma could see them both, the blonde looking much happier now than she did nearly two hours ago. 

“I take it ice cream went well then?” Jane asked, noting the grin on Emma’s face. 

Delightedly, Emma reported, “It went more than alright, Regina and I actually talked. She, um, she is interested in us, in joining our relationship. I kissed her goodnight, on her cheeks. And she let me have Henry for the night, he’s asleep downstairs on the couch.”

Emma could not keep the grin off her face as she spoke of her evening, a far cry from her previous conversation with her girlfriends.

For their part, Jane and Maura were also delighted to learn of the Mayors interest in them. They listened to Emma speak of her conversation with Regina, and her quip about changing the flavour of ice cream Regina likes should she indeed join their trio.

The trio’s second conversation for the evening went a lot better than their first, ending on a happy, not worried note. The Boston women were happy at the progress made between the women in Maine, especially with Regina allowing Henry to stay at Emma’s for the night. 

At least Emma would not be lonely now as she waited for Jane and Maura’s appearance in Maine.

She would be kept entertained by the attentions of one Mayor Regina Mills.


	37. Moving Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The following chapters are a bit shorter than previous ones but they move the story along.

With their end date finally arranged, the rest of the packing for Jane and Maura flew by, knowing they had more exciting things in the future to look forward to. 

Work wrapped up for Jane with a straight forward murder case, closed four hours after being reported, even before Maura had finished her autopsy report. 

Barry and Korsak had the ladies an open bar after their last case, celebrating the many years of working as a team. 

Korsak inadvertently made Jane cry when he was recounting his favourite Jane Rizzoli stories, especially recounting times when Jane went up against big bad murders and came out on top. 

Barry too spoke of his time working with Jane and Maura, thanking them for helping him overcome his fears of bodies. 

Suzie and Kent as well had their goodbye stories for Maura, having joined the detectives at the Dirty Robber. 

At the end of the evening, Angela drove her girls home, both sad at the close of that chapter of their lives. 

Their sadness though, was tempered by the prospect of getting to know a certain Mayor better.

Which was why, on moving day, Jane and Maura were still smiling, knowing they weren’t abandoning their old lives, rather were expanding their future.

As she suggested, Jane had gone up to Maine two days prior, leaving her car in a secure garage for the four days she’d be renting the small removal truck. 

Surprising Jane, as that seemed to be her thing now, Emma met Jane at the truck depot, having been driven there by an obliging Regina whilst Henry was at school.

Regina stayed with the ladies for lunch before returning to Storybrooke, Emma and Jane returning to Boston.

The afternoon before the big move, Frankie, Barry, Tommy and Korsak all came over to help pack the truck up, and for one last big family dinner cooked by Angela. 

The gang didn’t stay long, allowing the three ladies to get a goodnight sleep before the drive. 

They arose with the sun, Angela making breakfast for her daughters before the final pack of their items the ladies used that morning. 

Getting onto the road by eight, stopping for a while for lunch, the ladies were in Storybrooke at their new house at 10th Street West by five in the afternoon. 

Given it was a Sunday, and Henry had done his homework for school the next day, Regina brought him over to help unload the truck, and also because she wanted to see the interesting Doctor Isles again, not having seen her with Jane and Emma the day before. 

Regina and Henry arrived about ten minutes after the three ladies, who were reacquainting themselves with their new abode. 

Maura fell in love, all over again with the turrets at the front of the house loving the large bay windows it produced. 

As Jane opened up the back door of the delivery truck, Maura quickly looked though the renovated shed that was to become her new doctors office. 

It was as Maura walking back over to the truck that she caught a glimpse of familiar brown eyes she hadn’t seen in a long while. 

“Regina, good evening,” Maura greeted the Mayor, not yet having seen Henry. 

“Hello, Maura,” Regina smiled, “welcome to Storybrooke. Are Jane and Emma around somewhere?”

“Yes, I’m here,” Jane called from inside the truck, “hi,” she popped her head out, “hello Henry,” Jane added as she saw the boy come around the corner, holding Emma’s hand. 

“Hiya Miss Jane, hello Miss Maura,” the boy chirped, puzzling the four women by adding the ‘Miss’ before their names. 

“We’ve come around to help you move your belongings inside, I’ve also got a cold supper in the car if you ladies are hungry later,” Regina explained they reason for coming. 

Maura, Regina and Henry moved the lighter things into the house, laying boxes out in the living room whilst Emma and Jane worked together to carry the heavier items into their respective rooms. 

The three women decided they would do a large shop to fill the house the next day when they returned the truck. 

By taking Maura’s car with them, they’d have two cars to fill of things for the house, like bedding and kitchenware they hadn’t brought with them. 

With the extra hands unpacking the truck, the four women and young Henry were sitting on the large lounge they brought in from Boston by eight in the evening, eating the food Regina brought. 

“These sandwiches are lovely Regina,” Maura complimented the cold roast lamb and cucumber sandwiches.

“Yes, thank you for bringing them, they taste amazing, I wouldn’t have thought of putting lamb and cucumber together,” Jane commented.

“I’ve also brought apple turnovers for dessert,” the Mayor added, not picking up on the alarm on Henry’s face upon hearing of the pastries.

Henry waited for Regina to take a bite of her turnover before he did his, reminding himself of how much he actually liked his adoptive mothers baking. 

Between the food and helping move in boxes, Henry was ready for sleep earlier than usual. 

Regina gave her sleepy boy her car keys to start the Mercedes and wait inside for her to come out. 

Inside the house, alone with Jane, Maura and Emma, Regina invited them to lunch the next day.

“Seeing as Henry is at school tomorrow, it would give the four of us an opportunity to discuss a few things Emma’s brought to my attention. Would you all be agreeable for that? Say at 1pm?”

“We would love to, Regina, trust us, we would, but we have to return the truck tomorrow, could we have lunch on Tuesday?” Maura offered.

“Yes, that would be great. I best get out to Henry,” Regina bid the women goodnight, this time though, when the Mayor departed their company, she herself kissed the three women goodbye. 

“Goodbye ladies,” Regina murmured with happiness, smiling as she left their new house to return to her own, excitement already building for Tuesdays lunch.


	38. Meaningful Conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to everyone who comments and kudos on Triple Threat, always good to know people are enjoying the direction of the story. 
> 
> Enjoy the next chapter, hurdles ensue...

Given they had the whole day to shop, Maura, Emma and Jane did indeed fill both their cars of new items for the house, enjoying setting the house up and cooking in it’s kitchen for the first time. 

That night, though still tired from the move and unpacking, they managed to christen the lounge room and their new king sized carved bed, a master piece from Marco. 

All three were excited for their lunch with Regina, to the point Jane was bouncing in her seat the next morning whilst Emma was trying to explain from introductory paperwork for the station. 

Emma eventually gave up trying to get Jane concentrate and instead went to Granny’s early. 

It seemed Regina also had the same plan as she walked in less than a minute after Jane and Emma. 

Maura was the only one to arrive actually on time as she’d been at home organising the converted garage into her new doctors office.

With the four women present, they decided somewhere a bit more private would be better for their conversation than the diner, and so made their way to the lounges in Regina’s office, take away food in hand. 

Watching as Emma and Jane immediately started eating, sitting on the floor with their food on the coffee table, Regina started the conversation. 

“I do not know how the three of you ladies work your relationship, as, even though there are the three of you, you don’t seen to exactly have an entirely open relationship. Could you please explain it a bit to me as I’m confused about where I come into it,” Regina queried. 

Maura, who’d sat next to Regina on the long sofa, answered, smiling at the Mayor trying to help relax her, “You are right in that we don’t have an ‘open’ relationship in the normal sense of ‘open’ where so long as all parties agree and consent, the parties can pursue further relationships whilst still being together. Our relationship still is based on trust and consent, it’s just that we don’t go looking for more partners as we’ve committed solely to each other.”

“Yeah,” Emma piped up, “when I met Jane and Maura, the two of then had been together a long time, and probably would have got married if I didn’t fall in love with them, and them with me. They weren’t looking for anyone else, it just sort of happened.”

“Rest assured, Regina,” Jane spoke up now, “Maura and I discussed our feelings for Emma in great detail before the both of us spoke about them with Emma, with the view of asking her to join us. In the two weeks Maura and I were here, we could totally understand a few things Emma had spoken about, our own feelings for you made themselves known. When I kissed your cheek before we left, I guess I was testing the waters to see how you felt. Does any of this make sense to you?”

Nodding as she swallowed her food, Regina was quiet as she replied to the wealth of information provided to her, “I think so. You are all committed to each other, but all seem to have some semblance of feeling for me that you’re all wanting to date me, together. Is that about it?”

“In a nutshell, yes,” Jane affirmed, “we aren’t trying to overwhelm you, by any means, we just need to be honest with you.”

“Thank you,” Regina murmured before going back to her food for a moment of quiet contemplation. 

The silence continued until all four women had finished the take away meals. 

“What are you thinking?” Maura gently asked the Mayor. 

Before Regina could even answer, Louise buzzed Regina’s intercom, apologising for the interruption but saying it was important. 

Due to Regina needing to go back to work, Jane, Emma and Maura left the office promising to speak to the Mayor later, giving her some times to think over their conversation. 

After dealing with an emergency that turned out to not be an emergency, Regina was afforded a small window of time to properly think about what the three intriguing women were offering, before the next hurdle made itself known in the form of Mr. Gold. 

“Madame Mayor,” the imp greeted as he strolled into her office. 

“Mr. Gold,” Regina replied. 

“I need to take up a few minutes of your time, Madame Mayor,” Gold near on demanded. 

“I’m afraid I don’t have-”

“Please.”

And with one simple word, Regina was bound to listen to whatever it was the man had to say. 

“I must say, Regina, I was surprised to see the towns newest resident’s leaving here a short time ago. Three women in a relationship spending time with another single woman? Anyone would think they were courting you.”

“What is it that you want, Gold?” Regina had no time for the games of Rumplestiltskin. 

“I want what I’ve always wanted. My son.”

“And how do Jane and Maura come into that?”

“Well dearie, with outsiders comes risks. You see, I need the curse broken to look for Baelfire, but with these new ones, I’m sure you’ll do anything to prevent the curse from breaking so they don’t find out fairytales are real. That we are real.” Gold explained. 

“Why are you telling me this?” Regina was genuinely confused.

“Because, dearie, I’m giving you one warning. This curse will be broken. All curses can be broken. Do not think this one is any different.”

Without warning, Gold upped and left the Mayors office without another word, leaving said Mayor wondering what the hell that conversation meant.


	39. Thinking Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, creative licence used to change the plot a bit, thanks everyone for sticking with the story and commenting, I had a crappy day at work last week but reading the lovely comments brought a smile to my face, so thank you to everyone!
> 
> Happy reading,
> 
> Vespers_Reign

Though she should be happy at the prospect of beginning a, well three, relationships, Regina was now worried.

Mr. Gold would not have come to her office to speak in riddle for no reason. 

The Mayor spent the rest of the day pondering her conversation with the imp, instead of thinking on the conversation with her new romantic interests.   
By the time Regina left work to collect Henry from school, she had one thought reverberating though her head - remove the Gold issue. 

The imp had been correct in assuming the former Evil Queen didn’t want her curse broken, if it were to break soon, as Gold implied, she would not have had the opportunity to show Emma, Jane and Maura her good side, they would be bombarded with her evil-ness. 

It would be way too much for the three, for want of a better term, muggles, to handle. They would surely pack up and leave, taking her son with them. 

No. 

That was not an option. 

Before Regina could put any thought into how she was going to eliminate the threat that was Gold, Henry came barreling out of the school building and into her arms. 

Regina chatted to Henry about his day whilst they made their way to her car. 

Unbeknownst to the boy, his mother had organised for him to spend the afternoon with Emma, organised as the blonde left the Mayor’s office at lunch time. 

Not that Regina realised it at the time of making the arrangements, but the afternoon alone would provide the Mayor a chance to work on her dilemma without interruption. 

After a quick coffee with Maura and Emma, Jane currently manning the station solo, finishing up the paperwork she failed to complete that morning, Regina made her way to the one place in town that may hold the answer to her conundrum. 

Her vault.

Paying her respects at her fathers coffin, Regina told the stone tomb about the development in her life. 

“Daddy, I think you’d really like them, especially Jane, she’s feisty, she keeps me on my toes, and has done so from the first moment we met. You should have seen it Daddy, Jane stormed into my office, like no one ever has, not in this world or the last. I thought it rude to begin with, and I supposed it was, but after a while, a long while, it amused me. And Maura, she is beautiful, and smart, and you should see her riding horses, you would love it. She rides like I always wanted to, like you taught me to. I have to go now, I have something I need to take care of if I want to keep things the way they are. I love you Daddy.” Regina spoke quietly as she pushed the stone casket aside, allowing the Mayor to walk down the hidden stair case. 

The former Queen walked through her personal paradise to the library of the vault trying to take inspiration from the dusty leather bound volumes lining the walls. 

Regina knew magic was non-existent in Storybrooke, so therefore knew her options were even more limited, making nearly all of the tomes redundant. 

There was only one scripture Regina knew that would be of benefit to her, and that was her mothers old spell book.

Being imbued with magic itself, Regina knew how she could use a slice of magic, here in the land without it.

Now, she only needed to find the right spell to utilise. 

Plucking the blue leather bound book from its hiding place, the Queen sat regally on her black chaise and began perusing the pages for inspiration. 

After twenty minutes, Regina located a simple yet, she knew from previous experience, effective method for dealing with Gold. 

The old get the target to eat a poison apple willingly trick. 

But how to get the imp to eat the poisoned fruit?

The answer come to Regina as soon as she had thought the question. 

Apple turnovers. 

The next issue was to actually get the poison apple.

Using the tiniest of magic the spell book contained, Regina was able to summon the same poison apple that garnered success previously. 

Now with a motive, method and the means, the Queen left the vault, replacing Henry Seniors flowers on the way out, having left them on the stone as she went below. 

As daylight washed over her face, Regina mobile phone rang, the caller ID showing her ten-year-old as the caller. 

The boy didn’t have a full fledged mobile phone, just an emergency safety phone that could only program five phone numbers in, and that could not access the internet. 

“Hello Henry, dear,” Regina answered.

“Hey Mom, can Emma, Jane and Maura come over for dinner so I can show them the new game you bought me for my PlayStation?” Henry asked wanting desperately to share his new game. 

Regina looked at her watch and saw it was only just past four. She thought about what she could cook for dinner quickly with what she had in her fridge.

Remembering he cupboards and fridge were empty, this afternoon was going to be utilised for a grocery run. 

“Not tonight Henry, but-” she cut off his rebuke before he could begin an argument, “why don’t you invite them for lunch on Saturday, that way you will have more time to spend with them.”

Regina could sense Henry weighing up an argument though the phone line before he simply agreed, hanging up shortly after, saying goodbye to his mother. 

Regina then left the cemetery to the grocery store deciding to do her shopping now, in peace and quiet before picking up Henry. 

Regina bought food for herself and Henry for the week, deciding to come back later in the week to purchase fresh ingredients for Saturdays yet to be confirmed lunch. She would also purchase the ingredients for her turnover’s then so that she had a few days to work out how to get Gold to willingly eat the treat. 

Regina decided she’d make non-poisonous turnover’s too, for the five of them to eat for dessert on Saturday, the only thing better than cold apple turnovers were fresh hot ones.


	40. Weekend Preparations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay, this hasn't been proofread either, so please let me know of any mistakes you spot!
> 
> Happy reading :)

In the end, the few days to Saturday went quickly, and in the same fashion. 

The four women would dine together, whether it be at Regina’s office, the Sheriffs station, or Maura’s office, for lunch, prepared by either Regina or Maura. After school, Henry would be dropped to Emma’s house for a few hours before going home to Regina. 

Even though it had only been less than a week, both households saw their impromptu routine as a step in the right direction towards establishing a real relationship. 

Over their Wednesday lunch date, Regina asked the trio if they would be comfortable with keeping their blossoming relationship private, just between the four of them, stating she didn’t want Henry to get hurt if, for whatever reason, their relationship didn’t work out, 

All three were happy to abide Regina’s request, agreeing that it was for the best, agreeing to put the ten-year-old before all four of them. 

Thursdays lunch date brought with it some extra information for Jane, Emma and Maura, with Regina telling them about a previous relationship she’d had with a woman.

Back in the Enchanted Forrest, before everything turned sour, Regina had an on-again-off-again relationship with Maleficent, of course, Regina didn’t mention the Forrest part.

“How long were you together for?” Emma asked, wanting to work out how much experience Regina had being with a woman. 

“In total, maybe one and a half, to two years. We were never anything serious, just two lonely women who sought comfort and physical intimacy from each other. We both got what we wanted from the relationship initially, but in the end we just fought and didn’t see eye to eye,” Regina explained. 

“Does Henry know? Does he know you like women?” Jane posed the question she’d been wanted an answer to for a little while now.

“Ive never discussed my, well basically non-existent, romantic life with Henry, he is only ten. I’ve never had a reason to discuss it with him. Mal and I were over long before I’d even thought of having a baby, well, adopting one. And, being a single mother does not leave much time for dating.”

“Fair enough,” Jane replied, “we’ll see how we go but we’re at your pace, Regina, for everything, including when to tell Henry about us. He is your son, of course, we three understand and respect that, that you are in charge when it comes to him.”

Regina felt moisture other in her eyes at Jane’s words, her fears about the three women interfering in Henry’s life slowly ebbing away.

Friday’s lunch brought with it a conversation working out how their dates would happen.

“What after school or weekend activities does Henry participate in?” Maura asked the Mayor. 

“Nothing at the moment but he did mention a while ago, a creative writing group that meets at the school on Saturday mornings, perhaps if he were to join the group, even though it’s a strange time for a date, we could get together then?” Regina suggested. 

“That sounds like a good idea,” Emma agreed.

Jane too, adding a suggested for progressing their relationship, “Weekend dinners either at our house, or at your house, Regina, would also give us the chance to spend time together, with Henry too. And perhaps, after he falls asleep, we could speak of more private matters that ought not be discussed in front of a ten year old.”

Nodding, Regina agreed to the plans, so long as Henry always remained the top priority.

Once Jane, Emma and Maura left Regina’s office after Friday’s lunch, Regina finally worked out how she was going to get Mr Gold to eat the poison apple willingly. 

Regina had a plan to invite Mr Gold to tea time on Sunday afternoon, an Enchanted Forrest tradition between high ranking families. 

She would invite him under the guise of discussing an amicable solution to the breaking o the curse. 

At tea, she would serve Gold the turnover, and herself a non-poisonous one, to keep up appearances.

She would just have to put that turnover somewhere else whilst she served Saturday’s lunch so no unfortunate accident occurred. 

With all plans in place, Regina picked Henry up from school happier than she did Tuesday. 

Together, the mother and son went to the grocery store and bought groceries for the weekend plans.

Regina found that whilst Henry was growing up, the more involved he was with the buying and cooking of ingredients and meals, the more the young boy was inclined to try and eat different foods. 

As the pair strolled the tiles of the small Storybrooke supermarket, Regina asked Henry what he wanted to help cook for their Friday nights dinner.

“Spaghetti and meatballs!” Henry answered excitedly.

“Okay, let’s collect what ingredients we need.”

For the next ten minutes or so, Regina instructed Henry on what ingredients were needed for both their dinner tonight and their meals for the weekend. 

As a reward for helping with the groceries, Regina allowed her ten-year-old to select a tub of ice cream he wanted. 

Delighted at the prospect of happiness on the horizon for herself, Regina was in a very good mood that evening as she thought Henry how to make is chosen dish. 

“Can I have some ice cream now, Mom?” Henry immediately requested as the last string of spaghetti was cleared from his plate. 

“You need to clean your room if you want the ladies to see your game collection tomorrow. How about you go upstairs and clean your room whilst I do the dishes, then we can put on a movie and have a bowl of ice cream each. How does that sound?” Regina suggested the request behind a bribe. 

“Can I have a big bowl of ice cream?” Henry bargained. 

“So long as you clean your room very well, and bring your dirty laundry down to the laundry room,” the Mayor bargained back.

Thinking about whether or not bringing down his laundry was worth a big bowl of ice cream, the ten-year-old quickly held out his hand to his Mom, to shake on their deal. 

Smiling at Henry’s behaviour, Regina firmly shook his little hand in agreement, prompting the boy to run upstairs and start cleaning his room. 

In the time it took Henry to fully clean his bedroom, including bringing down his laundry, Regina was able to complete her side of the bargain and clean up all of the dinner dishes. 

As Henry walked into the pristine kitchen, Regina lifted two bowls down from where they lived and placed them on the kitchen bench, ready to fill with ice cream. 

Henry collected spoons whilst his mother retrieved the frozen treat from the freezer, handing the tub to her don to take his fill. 

With both Mills’ now in possession of dessert, they walked side by side to the lounge room. Regina held both bowls and watched Henry select the movie they were to watch for the evening, Iron Man, the boy’s favourite. 

Regina spent the evening happier than she had been in a long time, content to just spend the time with her son. 

The mother kissed the side of her boys head as he snuggled in to her to continue watching the movie, ice cream long finished. 

Yes, Regina thought this is happiness, this is my happy ending, even if there was more happiness to be added in the form of three intriguing women.


	41. Apple Turnovers are Dangerous

Saturday morning brought a flurry of excitement to 108 Mifflin Street.

Henry was up at the butt crack of dawn, excited to have Emma, Jane and Maura come over to the house and see his new game. 

Regina meanwhile was up cleaning the already clean mansion, wanting everything to be perfect for her special lunch guests. 

Together, Regina and Henry made and ate their breakfast before working together to prepare the salad for lunch and marinading the chicken the mayor decided to bake. 

Henry also helped Regina make the pastry required for the apple turnovers. 

When it came time to cook the apples, Regina sent Henry to play with his console. She was happy enough to teach her son how to make pastry, but she didn’t want him to be anywhere near the poison side of the (a) turnovers. 

Henry was more than happy to be released from cooking duties to go and play his new video game, he didn’t care why he was released. 

If Henry could gain a few levels in his game, the more impressed he was sure Jane and Emma would be. Maura, Henry wasn’t sure would care much about his game when his mother was downstairs for the doctor tp interact with. 

As Henry toiled away at the consoles controls, Regina toiled in the kitchen. 

For Regina, cooking always relaxed her, but today, it was not enough for Regina’s nerves to dissipate. 

There were two pots, a large one and a small one, simmering in the kitchen containing apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and a secret ingredient Regina refused to reveal. 

The little pot, of course, contained the single poison apple. 

With her pastry rolled, cut and set aside, all Regina was waiting on was the apples to finish cooking and to cool enough so she wouldn’t get burned forming the dessert.

It took half an hour for the cooked apples to cool enough, Regina wasted no time in making the non-poisonous pastries. On top of these, Regina sprinkled a little bit of brown sugar on top of two fork piercings through the pastry. 

On top of the turnover marked for Mr. Gold, Regina used the fork to pierce the pastry three times before sprinkling enough sugar to match the other pastries but enough to be able to determine the odd one out. 

Regina baked the poison pastry for the thirty minutes required and set it aside on an airing rack to cool. 

The normal pastries Regina decided, she would cook fresh when Emma, Jane and Maura arrived, which was twenty minutes after the poison pastry was set aside to cool in the butlers pantry. 

Regina answered the door at the ladies knock, taking in the womens appearance. 

Emma was dressed in her standard jeans, tank top and red leather jacket, Jane also in jeans with a collard Red Sox polo and black leather jacket. Maura was dressed immaculately in a deep purple tight dress. 

“How the four of us look, we kind of match,” Regina greeted the women and welcomed them into her home, referring also to her own dark blue dress she was wearing, “you two in jeans, Maura and I in dresses.”

“I can never get them to wear dresses, so good luck to you in trying,” Maura laughed as she stepped inside the mansion.

“Where’s the tyke?” Jane asked following Maura inside, surprised the boy hadn’t greeted them at the door, given how excited he was to invite the ladies over.

“Upstairs in his room, playing with the game he wants to show you.”

“Well we best not keep the kid waiting,” Emma added.

Regina led the group up to the room that had, since day one, been Henry’s.

So engrossed in the game was the ten-year-old, that he did not hear the four women approaching his room, let alone stand at the door watching him play.

It was only the fact Jane clapped when Henry conquered the level he was on that the boy turned around and realised the visitors had already arrived. 

Henry paused the game and jumped up to greet the women, wrapping them all, Regina included, in a great big hug.

“Come, look at my games,” he requested, excited to finally show off the game Regina recently bought him, and indeed, his entire game collection.

After a few moments, Regina excused herself from the room, citing a need to actually cook lunch if they wanted to eat anytime soon.

Maura saw an opportunity to leave and took it, leaving her girlfriends with the boy and their games, knowing Jane and Emma would happily play video games for hours if she let them.

Maura followed Regina down to the kitchen to help cook whatever was for lunch.

Regina was more than happy for the company whilst cooking, even more so knowing it was good company in that of the good Doctor Isles.

Their conversation flowed freely as Maura helped cook the marinated chicken and dish the salad and bread, bread to fill up the three children that would be at the table, salad for the two ladies!

Regina asked Maura to run upstairs and collect the game players whilst she put the food on the table and put the desserts in the oven, all arriving at the dinner table at the same time.

Lunch was a joyful affair, full of ruckus laughter at the antics of Jane and Emma with Henry, Regina could not wipe the grin off her face. 

They were still sitting at the table half an hour later with empty plates when the oven timer went off. 

Jane helped clear the plates from the table whilst Regina took the pastries out of the oven and set them aside to cool whilst she and Jane stacked the dishwasher and got coffee organised for dessert, juice for Henry.

The boy came in to help, Jane and Regina went through to the dining room to check what coffee Emma and Maura wanted. 

Henry, being ever so helpful, pulled down five bowls and put five turnovers in the respective bowls, four hot one for the ladies, a cold one he found in the pantry that his mother must have made the day before, for himself. 

Henry always preferred cold turnovers to hot ones, especially with ice-cream, that way, the ice-cream doesn’t melt. 

Bringing the bowls through to the dining room, Henry sat down his first so he remembered which one was the cold one he’d selected and handed out the ladies hot turnovers, whilst Jane and Regina went back into the kitchen to finish the coffees.

Dessert did not go the way it was supposed to, for one bite in for Henry, the boy was slumped over in his chair, face down in ice-cream and apple, three women calling out to him, one sitting stunned that the event she’d most dreaded had come to pass. 

Henry had eaten the poison turnover. Willingly.


	42. The Truth

“Henry?” Jane asked cautiously. 

“Henry?” Maura asked concerned.

“Henry?” Emma asked worried.

With no response from the boy. Emma yelled his name whilst rushing to his side and lifting his face out of the ice cream.

“Maura, help him!” Emma begged, turning her tear stricken face to her girlfriend.

By this time, Jane was by Emma’s side, she lifted the boy up on the table top, clearing dishes with her long arms before she did so. 

Maura checked as many of Henry’s vitals as she could without medical tools and machines. 

In the less than sixty seconds since Henry had eaten the turnover, Regina had not moved. Had not said a word. Had not stopped staring at the spot where her boy had previously been sitting. 

This was soon noticed by the detective in the room. 

“Regina?” Jane tried to get the mayors attention. 

With no response indicating she was heard, Jane tried again. Still no response. 

Jane walked the few steps towards the mother sporting a frozen horrified look on her face. 

“Regina?”

Slowly, the mayor lifted her stony gaze from Henry’s empty seat to face the puzzled detective, still not saying a word though. 

Jane had not worked her job for over fifteen years without picking up a sort of spidey-sense. 

Those senses were ringing off the hook right now. 

“Regina, what’s wrong with Henry?”

Silence. 

“Regina? What is wrong with Henry?” Jane asked forcefully. 

“He-”

The mayor wasn’t able to finish whatever is was she was about to say before dashing out the dining room to the bathroom opposite and depositing the contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl. 

Jane followed slowly, knowing at that moment she was no use to Henry whilst Maura worked on him. She could though, try and figure out what caused Regina to react this way.

Jane didn’t go inside the bathroom, despite the door being open. She stood against the wall opposite, facing it with one foot propped up in the wall behind her, leg bent at the knee. 

After emptying her stomach twice, and rinsing her mouth, Regina finally appeared to gain some clarity. 

She stepped out of the bathroom and stared the detective down. 

“Where is my son?”

“Where you left him. Wanna tell me what’s wrong with him?” Jane wasn’t in the mood to be the mayors verbal punching bag. There was a sick boy in the dining room who needed them, now was not the time to fight with his mother. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Jane’s own internal lie detector went off, years of policing taught Jane when people lie. 

Right now, the mayor was lying through her teeth. 

Before Jane could press the issue, Emma ran out from the dining room, yelling for Jane to carrying Henry to the car, that they were taking him to the hospital.

Maura stayed with Henry whilst Jane carried him, Regina grabbed her handbag and Mercedes keys whilst Emma grabbed Henry’s book bag he carried everywhere. 

The trip to the hospital this time was a lot quicker than the last time the boy was taken to Storybrooke General, that was for sure. 

Jane pulled the car up and rushed out to carry Henry inside whilst Maura went ahead to alert the medical staff inside. Emma parked the car, nearly hitting Regina’s as she did so in her hurry. 

The pair rushed in the hospital behind Jane and Maura, and followed the yells of the doctor through the ER to the med bay where Henry’s lifeless body had been deposited on the bed, dwarfing the child. 

Emma threw Henry’s bag on a chair in the room whilst Doctor Whale asked what caused Henry to collapse and if he hit his head. 

“No, we don’t know,” Emma all but yelled, “we were eating dessert then he just face planted into the bowl!”

“His airway is clear,” Doctor Whale said.

“Yes, I know, I checked that Doctor, I’m not totally incompetent,” Maura asked affronted, having joined in on the conversation. 

“Did he vomit? Was there any convulsing?” 

“No, he was just eating then collapsed,” Emma said. 

“It’s poison,” a small voice spoke up from the back. 

“What?” Emma, Jane, Maura and Whale asked at once.

“Check him for poisoning,” Regina said, whisper quiet. 

It was at that moment something clicked for Emma. Something fairy-tale like. A flash memory of Henry throwing an apple Emma was about to eat over his shoulder, saying it was poisoned.

Grabbing Regina by the arm and hauling her through the hospital to a spare supply closet, Emma threw the mayor roughly inside, knowing Jane would be standing guard outside the door to stop anyone coming in. 

“YOU DID THIS!” Emma yelled at Regina, throwing her into shelving. 

“What the hell are you doing? Stop this!” Regina screamed back, unaware Jane could hear everything just outside the door, “my son!”

“HE’S SICK BECAUSE OF YOU! That apple turnover he ate, it was poisoned, wasn’t it?”

“It wasn’t meant for him,” Regina sobbed as Emma held her against the wall she’d thrown her against. 

“It’s true isn’t it?” Emma shouted.

“What are you talking about?” the brunette tried to avoid the inevitable.

“It’s true, isn’t it? All of it?” Emma asked tearfully. 

“Yes,” Regina finally admitted, letting her head fall back against the cabinetry. 

“We were getting along, why did you even make that turnover?”

“Because as long as Gold is in town, he’s a danger to us. To me.”

“Gold? What does he have to do with Henry? You wake him up!” Emma demanded. 

“I can’t!” 

“Don’t you have magic? Henry said you have magic.”

“That was the last of it,” Regina said, defeated, “it was supposed to put Gold to sleep!”

“What’s it going to do to him?”

“I don’t know,” Regina admitted, “magic here is unpredictable.”

“So, so he could-”

“Yes.”

“So, what do we do?” Emma queried.

“We need help,” Regina answered simply, tears tracking down the side of her cheeks, “there’s one other person in town who knows about this, knows about magic.”

“Mr Gold.”

“Actually, he goes by Rumplestiltskin.”


End file.
